Similitude
by Bill K
Summary: The Crystal Senshi are attacked by a band of super-powered ebony warriors. Princess Usa must determine their hidden objective and stop them before one of the warriors can achieve her deadly goal.
1. Attack In Broad Daylight

Similitude  
Chapter 1: "Attack In Broad Daylight"  
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Sailor Moon and all related characters are (c)2015 by Naoko Takeuchi and are used without permission, but with respect. Story is (c)2015 by Bill K.

* * *

From the database of famous quotes: "There will always be things, no matter how large or small, that one person shall have and another person shall covet. It is the human condition." - Sergei Gregarov, Russian cyber-novelist, 2322

* * *

Hotaru Tomoe sat in her Extra-Sensory Perception Training Class, her face scrunched up in agonizing frustration. She stared at the lead weight on the table in front of her. It was a two pound cube of dull, dark gray metal, unremarkable in every way. Her assignment was to lift it into the air using nothing but the electromagnetic force waves her mind could generate. Once levitated, she was to turn it over and, only if she was comfortable doing so, send it in a single controlled orbit around her head before setting it back on the table.

Well all that was fine. But first she had to get it into the air. No matter how much she stared at it, the best she could do was get it to wiggle a little on the desk. So engrossed was she in moving the object that when her instructor touched her shoulder, Hotaru jumped with a start.

"Concentration is admirable," Sun Zhong-Ju said, "but concentration to the exclusion of all else means one misses a great deal of the world's wonders."

"I don't understand why I can't do it," Hotaru offered. "I've lifted the weight before. Sure, it wasn't very steady, but at least I could get it into the air."

"Do you feel your center?" Sun asked her, his ancient Chinese features placid, though drooping.

"It's there," Hotaru said reluctantly, "somewhere."

"You are troubled?"

Hotaru just sat uncomfortably.

"It isn't necessary to explain why you are troubled if the matter is personal," Sun smiled. "But troubled thoughts are like ripples in a pond. They obscure what you gaze at through the water. We will always have troubled thoughts. The key is to set them aside so you may contact your center and let your power flow through your mind."

"I'm sorry, Sensei," Hotaru frowned.

"Do not apologize, Tomoe-Chan," Sun advised her. "Your inability to make your telekinetic power do as you command is not a failing within yourself. It is merely an obstacle to be overcome. Your solution to this obstacle is to conclude that you are inadequate. My advice is to find a different solution."

Sun patted her shoulder and moved on to his next student. Hotaru tried to take his words to heart. But the evidence was all around her. Her eyes locked on the newest student in the class. Valeri Brugarov was a Russian youth of sixteen who had been accepted into the school after his schools in Russia had proven unable to fully help him. The boy had been in the school a month and he was already in control of his power. Valeri had the ability to see events in other places or items concealed from sight. Watching him take a deck of cards and accurately predict the face of the card before turning it over, all fifty-two cards in just thirty seconds was amazing. He'd just been here a month. How long had she been there?

How she envied him.

"Mister Valeri-Sir is very pretty, isn't he?" Palla-Palla whispered in Hotaru's ear.

Like a wraith, she had taken a seat next to Hotaru without even being noticed. It was one of her more annoying talents.

"Oh," Palla-Palla said with some disappointment. "Miss Hotaru Ma'am isn't thinking of him like that."

Picking out intimate thoughts was another one.

"Palla-Palla is thinking of him like that," the girl said conspiratorially. Hotaru looked at her, for this was the first time Palla-Palla had ever expressed any interest in boys, even though she was nearly eighteen. "Palla-Palla thinks he's very pretty." She grinned sheepishly. "Palla-Palla wonders what it would be like to kiss him."

Hotaru didn't know how to respond. Suddenly Palla-Palla's eyes grew to saucers.

"Oh, but please don't tell Ves-Ves!" Palla-Palla exclaimed. "She'll be mad!"

"OK, Palla-Palla," Hotaru smiled. "I won't say anything. Are you going to ask him out?"

"No," the girl responded, mystified by the question. "Palla-Palla wants him to stay inside with her."

And again Hotaru found herself at a loss for words.

"Maybe Miss Hotaru-Ma'am should go kiss her boyfriend," Palla-Palla said, placing her hand over Hotaru's earnestly. "You can't find your center because you're missing him."

"Maybe I'm just not good enough," Hotaru mumbled.

"No, it's because you miss your boyfriend," Palla-Palla replied with the assurance of the innocent. "Miss Hotaru-Ma'am is so good enough. Palla-Palla knows Miss Hotaru-Ma'am is a lot better than she is. She knows you're almost as good as The Princess or The Queen. Go kiss your boyfriend and you'll find out."

"Did you read that in somebody's mind?" Hotaru asked.

When Palla-Palla didn't respond, she glanced at the girl. Palla-Palla was staring dreamily at Valeri Brugarov again. Hotaru gave the boy a critical look. He was very slim and handsome. But he wasn't her type. Yutaka was her type. And if their schedules could ever match up, taking Palla-Palla's advice would be very easy. Oh, what they would do if their schedules matched up. Hotaru's mouth began to curl while her eyelids drooped half way over her eyes.

If their schedules could ever match up.

A loud noise dragged Hotaru from her thoughts. The lead weight had impacted with the table. But to do that, it had to have been suspended over the table.

"Yes, Miss Hotaru-Ma'am," grinned Palla-Palla. "You lifted it. And all because you were kissing your boyfriend in your head. Just think what you could do if you kissed him for real!"

Hotaru's cheeks colored and she shrank into herself. Everyone in the class was staring at her, including Valeri Brugarov.

* * *

In another part of Crystal Tokyo, Cere tapped in the code that unlocked the door to the studio of famous artist and steady love interest Hiroki Kuroda. Since they had taken up with each other, Cere had the pass code for his studio and a standing invitation to come at any time. And she was feeling a desire for the company of the scruffy, reed-thin, intense genius right at that moment. That was until she caught sight of what was in the room.

A woman Cere had never seen before was sitting in a chair in the studio. She was young, barely twenty, with long silky black hair and sloping hooded green eyes and the cheekbones and chin that gave her face a feline look. While Kuroda worked furiously at an easel, the woman held an orange in her hand and feigned contemplating it, while a bowl of fruit sat on a table next to her. One shapely leg was extended from her while the other bent inward under the chair. Her other hand rested in her lap. A light source illuminated her right side.

And she was utterly naked.

Now artists painted nudes all the time. And Hiroki was such a fabulous artist that it made the term "artist" seem inadequate in describing him. It was just that he hadn't mentioned doing any nudes to her. And the thought of the man she had a relationship with - - she thought - - focusing his intense gaze on the naked body of another woman caused the hair on the back of Cere's neck to rise in irritation. The unidentified model glanced at the noise from the door and spotted Cere. And she spotted the look of surprise and outrage on Cere's face. The hand with the orange dropped to her lap.

"Don't move," Hiroki said brusquely.

"What the Hell is going on here?" Cere gasped.

"Hello, Cere," Hiroki frowned, trying to divide his attention between speaking and his painting. "Could you come back another time? I'm a little busy right now." And he kept his focus on his canvas.

"Doing what?" Cere barked.

"At the moment," Hiroki replied, struggling to keep his creative concentration, "I am trying to paint this model. I thought that was obvious."

"Is that all?" she said icily.

"Hey, I resent that!" the model spoke up.

"Don't move!" Hiroki said irritably. "Could you have this tantrum another time? You're disrupting the moment."

Cere's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah? Catch!" she said, plucking an apple from the bowl and flinging it at him. Hiroki looked up just in time to catch it. She was stalking off toward the front door while the shocked model looked on.

"Splendid!" Hiroki scowled. "You really destroyed the mood! Go ahead and get dressed, Keiko. I'll call you if I need you again."

"I destroyed THE MOOD?" Cere yelled from the other room. "Mood for what? If you wanted to paint a nude woman, all you had to do was ask me! I don't have any problem with people looking at me!"

"I didn't want to paint you," Hiroki answered firmly.

"Why not?" demanded Cere. "You've never had a problem painting me before! Am I suddenly hideous?" The model, Keiko, hurried past Cere and quickly exited.

"Those other times were different!" Hiroki replied, passions flaring in his eyes.

"How?" Cere fumed. "Because you hadn't met little Keiko yet?"

"I can't believe you're jealous of her!" Hiroki snapped with judgmental indignation..

"Why would I be jealous? Because I walk in and the man I THOUGHT I had a relationship with is ogling a naked woman, one he also conspicuously didn't bother to tell me about?"

"I was not ogling her! I was painting her!" Hiroki growled.

"Well next time paint a basket of fruit!" Cere snapped. "If you're nicer to it than you are to me, maybe IT'LL let you SCREW IT!"

The door hissed closed behind her as Cere stormed into the hall. She was down in the garage and opening the door of her hovercar before she stopped, other emotions overwhelming the anger she felt. Cere felt tears welling in her eyes. She put a shaky hand to her mouth.

Maybe it had been innocent. Cere didn't care. All she knew was the thought of Hiroki with another woman was more than she could bear. Hiroki was a drug for her, an aphrodisiac that she didn't want to share with anyone, particularly with naked little felines named Keiko. But the thought of losing him terrified her. And at that moment, Cere wondered if this fight could make that fear come true?

Provided she hadn't already lost him.

* * *

"Isn't it just a beautiful day, Ami?" Makoto sighed. She and Ami were strolling down the Promenade looking for a restaurant that would satisfy her hyper-critical standards and Ami's nutritional requirements.

"Very aesthetically pleasing," Ami nodded. "And an excellent way for the body to generate vitamin D3."

"Boy, I can always count on you to see the romantic side of everything," Makoto smirked.

"A healthy mind and a healthy body is very stimulating," Ami replied with just as big a smirk, unwilling to be baited by her companion. As they walked, she pointed to a restaurant. "How about this one?"

Makoto wrinkled her nose. "I think we can do better. They put too much tarragon in their broth. And they under cook their asparagus. And last time there was a water spot on the water glass."

Ami sighed. "Minako was right."

"What?" Makoto asked.

"Never dine with a chef," Ami needled.

"Well if you're going to take advice from Blondie," Makoto shot back playfully, "I'm going to deduct thirty points from your IQ. I thought you knew better." Makoto exhaled. "If you want to eat there . . ."

"No, it's all right," Ami assured her. "I doubt you'd enjoy yourself." They came to another place, this one advertising Bolivian cuisine. "I don't think we've tried this one. And Bolivian cuisine is very trendy these days in Crystal Tokyo."

"I'll give it a shot," Makoto shrugged. "Hopefully it's authentic Bolivian and not some Japanese knock off. So few residents have actually been to Bolivia that they can't tell the real stuff from the local approximation."

"Is it terribly spicy?" Ami asked. "Too much spice can have a negative impact on the digestive . . ."

Ami never finished. Suddenly, unexpectedly, the world exploded around her and Makoto. Makoto found herself lifted up and flipped around, like something hard had impacted with her at a high rate of speed. Her mind spun with the vertigo of trying to calibrate her senses and land gracefully. Then she met the pavement and her body flooded with pain. Moments stopped and started, their passage fragmented and jumbled. Makoto commanded her eyes to open. For a moment they wouldn't obey. Finally they did.

About five feet from her, a figure was standing over Ami. The figure was all in black, the sunlight vaguely highlighting the outline of a woman. Makoto couldn't tell if she was covered head to toe in a black form-fitting zentai or if her skin was actually pitch black. The woman was tall, lanky, but her form whispered of speed and power. Struggling with her consciousness, Makoto tried to figure out what the stranger was doing to Ami.

Then she saw. The strange woman had her hands around Ami's throat and was choking the life out of her.

"J-Jupiter," Makoto struggled to say, her henshin stick materializing in her hand, "Millennium Power Make Up!"

The transformation only took a moment. But in that moment, the assailant in black released Ami's throat and turned to defend herself. Ami lay on the pavement, coughing and gasping for breath. Her glasses lay on the pavement in front of her, the frame bent and one lens split diagonally. There were several ugly bruises on Ami's face and neck.

"You've got one second to surrender," Sailor Jupiter snarled. Already electricity was crackling from the lightning rod in her tiara.

The strange assailant responded by cupping her right hand at her side. Jupiter noticed energy beginning to collect in the woman's palm, sizzling and popping loudly. It must have been what hit them before.

"Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter called out, throwing a bolt of lightning at the woman before she could launch her attack.

The woman leaped over the bolt with inhuman speed, her jump taking her toward Jupiter. The senshi's quick eyes noticed the energy ball was still sizzling in the woman's palm.

"Aurora Electrical Field!" Jupiter countered.

Her body became a living conductor, electricity dancing all over her skin and snapping at anything that came near it. The energy ball impacted with the shield and shook the area with a loud 'pop'. Thrown back by the force of the impact, Jupiter quickly righted herself. Her attacker was equally nimble. The woman crouched in a way that could allow her to attack or retreat as needed and kept her between Jupiter and Ami. Immediately Jupiter registered from the familiar self-defense moves and postures that this person was a trained tactical combatant.

"Jupiter!" Jupiter shouted, taking the fight to her adversary to keep her on the move. "Oak Evolution!"

Electrical bursts began popping around the woman in black, designed to weaken and confuse her. But rather than be confused, the woman spawned another force ball and launched it at Jupiter. The force ball skidded along the pavement, tearing up chunks of the sidewalk as it barreled toward the senshi. At the last moment, Jupiter struck it with a lightning bolt and the force exploded, throwing up dirt and paving material in all directions.

When the dust settled enough for Jupiter to see, she quickly relocated her quarry. The woman was ready to launch or flee as needed. This puzzled Jupiter. The explosion of debris would have been perfect cover for an attack. What was this woman's objective? Then each one was drawn to the sound of Ami groaning as she struggled to her knees.

"Look out, Ami!" Jupiter shouted as the woman in black shot towards her friend.

Ami barely had time to look up before a vicious backhand caught her flush across the jaw. The doctor was sent spinning to the pavement. She landed in a heap and didn't move.

"Rolling Thunderclap!" Jupiter roared, clapping her hands together in front of her.

A savage lightning bolt leaped from her palms even as a deafening clap of thunder rumbled down the Promenade, breaking windows and upsetting ornamental benches. The bolt's target narrowly managed to avoid the strike before being knocked to her hip by the tremor caused by the thunder. Scrambling to her feet even as Jupiter moved in, the strange woman retreated with astonishing speed. Jupiter wanted for a second to pursue. But she had to check on Ami first.

"Ames?" Jupiter inquired breathlessly. Her gloved hand tentatively reached out and touched Ami's head, stroking along the temple to the hair line. Through her glove, Jupiter felt something wet. When she examined it, the fingertips were red. Jupiter sucked in air, then brought up her senshi communicator. "MEDICAL EMERGENCY! PROMENADE SECTOR SEVEN-G! HURRY!"

Continued in Chapter 2


	2. A Breeding Ground For Shadows

Similitude  
Chapter 2: "A Breeding Ground For Shadows"  
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

A hovercar pulled into an underground storage facility. The vehicle was unremarkable in every way, save for the driver. After the vehicle set down on its parking pad, the driver emerged. She was a tall, lanky woman entirely in black. It was difficult in the low light of the storage facility to see if the black was a covering or her skin. The woman walked purposefully toward a hatch in the far wall of the storage facility, past several other hovercars and light duty hover trucks. Pressing her palm against the sensor embedded in the wall, she allowed the hatch to hiss open and passed through.

Beyond the wall was a lab. The lab was filled with tanks of liquid nitrogen, self-contained power generators, and banks of state of the art computer controls and monitors. Hoses ran from the tanks of liquid nitrogen to sets of tubes anchored in one end of the room. The tubes were clear and contained, with life sign monitors affixed to the bottom pads. Inside five of the tubes were humanoid figures, women of different shapes and sizes, their skin onyx black and their eyes closed in cryogenic hibernation. The sixth tube was empty.

The seventh tube was filled with a fluid that was slightly blue in tint. Immersed in the fluid was an embryonic figure, shadowy black as the other figures, its umbilical connected to a panel embedded in the tube. A faint electrical current ran through the fluid, jumping from particulate molecule to particulate molecule, dancing around the embryo without actually touching it. A monitor relayed life signs to anyone who cared to look.

At the sound of the hatch opening, the woman seated at the main control console turned and looked at the ebony figure entering. She was in her early fifties, with short black hair and a state of the art vision correction visor over her eyes. A tiny woman, barely five feet and ninety pounds, she nonetheless commanded the room. A metallic anti-contamination suit covered her from the neck down. When she graduated from Crystal Tokyo University twenty-five years prior, first in her class with a doctorate in Genetic Biology, the name on her diploma read Ran Yoshida.

"Status of mission?" she asked the figure with scientific detachment.

"Target was severely injured," the figure replied, a mouth appearing on her face. It was revealed by the dark red interior of her mouth and her gray teeth. "This unit was unable to kill the target."

"Explain," Dr. Yoshida demanded neutrally.

"This unit was unable to overcome interference from her companion," the figure explained. "Target was with another senshi - - Sailor Jupiter - - and this unit was not able to complete its mission."

Dr. Yoshida digested this. "Were you followed or monitored?"

"This unit was not followed by Sailor Jupiter," responded the figure. "This unit made its way to the escape vehicle as instructed, taking care to first disable the sector observation drone. Once inside, this unit engaged the camouflage unit in the vehicle and returned here."

"Good," Yoshida nodded. "Eliminating Ami Mizuno would have been preferable, but her injury will serve almost as well. Return to your stasis tube."

The black figure nodded and headed for the empty tube. She got inside, the hatch closing behind her. Within moments, the figure was in cryogenic hibernation.

Dr. Yoshida turned to monitor the progress of the gestating embryo. Already it had doubled in size, from fifty-four centimeters to one hundred and eleven. However, it contained the same genetic defects that the others had: no body hair and pitch black skin. This defect hadn't shown up in Yoshida's previous experiments. She wondered if it was a peculiarity to the genetic material she was using or a reaction of the material to her process.

Mizuno's survival was unfortunate. The plan would have to be altered some to account for this turn of events. But the main thrust of the plan remained unchanged.

Turning, the scientist looked at the sleeping figures in the stasis tubes. Which would be better suited to take out the next target?

* * *

Cere sat on a bench in the Queen's garden. It was her favorite place to go if she was depressed. It was also her favorite place to go when she was happy, or experiencing several other emotions. The flowers greeted her as an old, trusted friend and sang their songs to her. It was comforting to feel their non-judgmental, no strings attached devotion to her. But it didn't help her mood any.

Turning her head slightly, she noticed Palla-Palla approach. She didn't want to deal with Palla-Palla, or anyone else at that moment, but she tried to will herself patience. Dealing with Palla-Palla always required a little extra patience.

"Cere-Cere?" Palla-Palla ventured tentatively, like a small child would. "Can Palla-Palla ask you something? She needs your advice, because Cere-Cere is smarter about these things than Palla-Palla is."

"Sure," Cere replied half-heartedly because it was all the heart she had left at the moment. "What about?"

"It's about boys."

Cere's features hardened.

"Men are pigs!" Cere snapped. "My advice is save yourself some heartbreak and don't get involved with them!"

"Oh-kaaaaay," Palla-Palla replied. She backed away, heeding some inner voice that told her she didn't want to pursue this with Cere any longer.

Returning to the quarters she shared with her three adoptive sisters, Palla-Palla noticed Ves was sitting at her computer station watching a soccer stream instead of doing her homework. She immediately headed for her doll corner, hoping Ves wouldn't ask about where she had been.

"Where you been?" Ves asked.

"In the garden, talking to Cere-Cere," Palla-Palla told her.

"What she doing down there? Mooning over those flowers again?"

"No, Cere-Cere is very sad," Palla-Palla reported. "Palla-Palla thinks Cere-Cere had a fight with her boyfriend."

"Don't you know?" Ves asked.

"Not for sure," Palla-Palla replied. "But she said that all men are oinky-piggies."

"Yeah, she had a fight with her boyfriend, all right," chuckled Ves. "What was it about?"

"Cere-Cere didn't say," Palla-Palla responded uneasily, "and Palla-Palla really didn't want to wait around to find out."

"Why didn't you read her mind?"

Palla-Palla grew horrified. "Because Sensei says you're not supposed to listen to people's thoughts just to be nosy!"

"Sure, now you grow morals," grunted Ves. "How did the subject of guys come up? Or was she just venting when you came up to her?"

"Um," Palla-Palla began nervously. "Palla-Palla is sorry. She has to go talk to Sensei."

Instantly Palla-Palla got up and made a bee-line for the door.

"Right now?" Ves asked.

But Palla-Palla didn't answer. She just exited, leaving Ves staring at the door with a very curious look on her face.

* * *

Hotaru sat in her room, contemplating the events of PKE class. The fact that she had lifted the lead weight without realizing it, simply by fantasizing about kissing Yutaka, thrilled and at the same time terrified her.

"Strong emotions can cause your power to manifest," Sun-Sensei had told her when she brought this up to him. "Fear has been the trigger up to this point. But there are other strong emotions."

Like desire. Hotaru couldn't think of any prior time that being with Yutaka had triggered her powers.

"Although," she mumbled to herself, "the first time we did it, it felt like we were floating." She gulped. "Maybe we were floating."

"This is a haphazard means of manifesting the potential of your mind," she recalled her teacher tell her. "The better way is to locate the source of your power and allow it to flow from you like water from a tap. In this way, you can control the strength. You control the consistency. The way you manifest it now, it's as if you take a hatchet and chop open the pipe connected to the faucet. It produces results, but not control."

"He and Palla-Palla make it sound so easy," Hotaru moaned. She glanced over at her work station. Her tablet was on the desk. "Clear your mind," she told herself. "Feel your power."

Hotaru closed her eyes. Clearing her mind, she could feel her telekinetic power coiled inside of her, like a serpent waiting to strike when she least expected it. Fighting the urge to flee from it, Hotaru reached out mentally to the serpent, determined to take control of it and make it do what she wanted it to. But the serpent had other ideas. When her mental hands were about to grasp it, the serpent lashed out, producing fangs and striking at her.

Her eyes shot open and Hotaru cried out in shock and fear. Then she heard the sizzle of electric circuitry. Glancing toward her desk, she saw her tablet sparking, a three inch gash through the center. As if a knife had pierced it.

"Oh no!" moaned Hotaru. "All my homework was on that!"

"Firefly?" Haruka Tenoh called out, knocking urgently on Hotaru's bedroom door. "You OK?"

Hotaru's shoulders slumped. Mortification on top of loss and failure - - the trifecta of her life.

"Yes, Papa," she moaned.

"What happened?" Haruka asked as the door hissed open. Hotaru concluded she must have used her pass code.

"I was experimenting with my telekinesis," Hotaru said glumly, looking down. "And I had an accident."

Haruka, noting the broken tablet, sat down on the bed beside her.

"We can get you a new one," Haruka offered. "It's no big deal."

"It's not the tablet," Hotaru said. "Papa, everybody in class makes progress but me! Why? Why can't I do it?"

Haruka gathered Hotaru in her arms and hugged the girl. "We all learn at our own pace, Firefly. You'll get it."

And Hotaru stayed in her Papa's arms and desperately wanted to believe.

* * *

The Great Hall of the People was a multi-purpose venue in Seoul, Korea, designed to host cultural performances, State dinners, and other large audience ceremonies. In fact, the only venue bigger was the Seoul Olympic Arena, built in 2988 to hold the Summer Games.

Today it was filled to the rafters with guests. When Queen Serenity and King Endymion, along with their daughter, the Princess Usagi, and famous entertainment star Minako Aino had agreed to a visit to Korea as a gesture of friendship between the two countries, the main event had been the State Dinner. No one had expected it to be dinner for five thousand, but so many requests, favors, cajoles, bribes and outright arm-twisting had resulted that the number of guests grew until capacity had been strained to the limit. Such was the drawing power of the four guests from Crystal Tokyo.

The dinner had kicked off with a traditional Korean dance company, then segued into a series of speeches from government officials. The dinner was in its third hour when Serenity was finally invited to the speaker's podium to say a few words. The Queen glided up to the podium amid thunderous applause. She blushed as she gestured for quiet, but it was several moments before the audience would obey.

"You know, I don't think my last five ovations combined was as loud as that one," Minako muttered out of the side of her mouth to Usa, all the while maintaining a public smile. Aino, dressed in a strapless light blue gown and white opera gloves with a string of pearls around her throat, was seated to Usa's left.

"Well, you're just a rock star," Usa replied, maintaining the same public smile. "Mom's a ROCK STAR." The Princess wore a white gown, gathered below the bodice and flowing out, with off the shoulder puffed sleeves with ornate brocading.

"Thank you for that very warm welcome," Serenity said, the sound system relaying her words to every table via speakers embedded in the tables, "and for coming to see me at all. I hope I don't disappoint you." The audience applauded again and it took a little time for it to subside. "Japan and Korea are a shining example of two peoples who prosper through cooperation and respect. Our history has not always been friendly. But clearly if the effort is made, differences between people can be resolved peacefully. And peace is the soil that can grow prosperity and good fortune and let it bloom for the benefit of all."

The audience broke out in applause once again.

"Bored with this yet?" Minako asked.

"Hours ago," Usa told her. "But it comes with the job, so I have to suck it up and endure it. I am the crown princess and one of Mom's bodyguards, after all." She let her smile dim just a hair. "I wish Helios was along."

"If Helios had been along, we couldn't have pried you two out of your hotel room," Minako leered. Usa rolled her red eyes, but the grin on her face had a guilty look to it.

"I'm not going to bore everyone with a lot of stuffy talk about trade or economics," Serenity continued. "That's not why Endymion and I are here - - and I don't really understand it that well anyway." The remark drew a warm chuckle from the audience. "We're here to enjoy this wonderful dinner, which was wonderful by the way, and see your beautiful country and meet as many of your wonderful people as I can. You're all such wonderful hosts. I just know this tour will be a joy for myself and my family. I hope it brings just as much joy to all of you."

The room erupted in applause once again. Serenity smiled, her face projected onto video monitors on the walls of the cavernous auditorium. Usa looked out over the sea of faces looking up at her mother. Though she'd seen the effect her mother had on people all of her life, it never ceased to amaze her. One day she would be put in this position and Usa wondered if she could handle it.

Then a sensation tickled the back of the young Princess's mind. It was familiar. Usa glanced around, first to her left and then to her right. It was almost like Rei was in the room. But Usa could see no sign of the priest.

A nudge from Minako got her attention. Looking at her aunt, she saw Minako point to Serenity. Usa looked. Serenity was staring silently at the audience, her mouth slightly open and her eyes saucers. At first Usa thought her mother had forgotten what she planned to say next. Then she saw it. The Queen looked stricken. Endymion was already rising to go to her side. The audience fell to an uneasy hush.

"Um," Serenity began, her eyes going from wide to wet and anguished. "Um, forgive me, please," she said, her voice quavering. "S-Something's come up. I'm sorry. I," and her lip trembled. Then she turned away from the podium. "I'm sorry," the microphone picked up as she fled the stage. Endymion was right at her heels. As the audience began to murmur, Minako and Usa got up and followed her off the stage. They caught up with her back stage. Endymion already was supporting her.

"What is it, Serenity?" Endymion asked her, his voice dripping with concern.

"Was that Aunt Rei I felt just now?" Usa asked pointedly. Serenity focused on her daughter with some surprise.

"You felt her, too?" Serenity asked, astonished.

"Yeah," Usa nodded. "What is it?"

"I felt Rei call me telepathically," Serenity related. "It's Ami! She's hurt! Bad!"

"How bad?" Minako asked.

Serenity answered by forming an energy bubble around the four of them. As concerned Korean officials approached, wondering what happened to disrupt the ceremony, the bubble flared into a silver light and vanished.

Continued in Chapter 3


	3. A Personal Attack

Similitude  
Chapter 3: "A Personal Attack"  
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Racing down the corridor of the palace, Hotaru headed for the lift and the palace infirmary. Though only a student assistant at the infirmary, studying under the supervision of Dr. Ami Mizuno, Hotaru had been summoned from her quarters by Dr. Tsuburaya. It was an unusual move, summoning a student assistant not scheduled to work that afternoon, and Hotaru wondered what was happening to motivate Dr. Tsuburaya to do so. Had someone taken sick? Was the infirmary suddenly short-staffed? The young waif tried to will the lift to go faster.

As she burst out of the lift and toward the infirmary, Hotaru analyzed the situation as Mizuno-Sensei had taught her. On the one hand, it had to be some sort of great medical emergency. She wondered if her senshi healing powers would be needed, as Hotaru couldn't see what she could contribute as far as physician skills. There were far more skilled personnel than her. She felt sorry for whoever was stricken. But at the same time, Hotaru relished another chance to work with Dr. Tsuburaya, even peripherally. Dr. Tsuburaya was a skilled doctor and he had always been nice to her. He was almost an older version of her real father - - before his "mishap". And Dr. Mizuno might even be there as well, and Hotaru always loved working with Dr. Mizuno.

When Hotaru arrived at the infirmary, she was directed into treatment room two by the duty nurse. As she approached, she saw Kino-Sensei and Hino-Sensei outside the door, looking pensively at the display monitor on the wall. A glance at the monitor didn't reveal the patient, but the vital signs display on the screen didn't look good. Rei turned to her first, sensing her approach. The priest was controlled, but clearly anxious. The movement made Makoto turn to her. Hotaru couldn't recall seeing Kino-Sensei this upset.

"Thank the gods you're here!" Makoto exclaimed, grasping Hotaru's upper arms in a grip of iron. "Help her, Hotaru!"

"Help who?" Hotaru asked. "Who's hurt?"

Makoto choked on the response. And suddenly Hotaru knew. She tore from Makoto's grip and burst into the treatment room.

"ANTI-CONTAMINATION SUIT, TOMOE!" barked Dr. Tsuburaya. He and two nurses were feverishly working on a battered, barely recognizable Ami Mizuno. Another glance at the vital signs read out told Hotaru that her mentor was slipping.

"Saturn Millennium Power Make Up!" Hotaru called out. She transformed right there in the room.

Setting her glaive aside, Sailor Saturn ran up to the examination sensor table. Already her hands were glowing violet. The two nurses moved aside to let her in. Saturn's left hand closed around Ami's wrist while her right hand pressed over Ami's forehead. Saturn tried to dismiss the lump she felt on Mizuno-Sensei's forehead and the ugly bruising around her throat and concentrate on letting her healing energy flow out into the patient.

"BP is stabilizing, Doctor," one of the nurses announced.

"But it's still very low," Dr. Tsuburaya mused. "Increase the magnetic stimulation field in the cranial area by twelve percent.

"Respiration is still nine and erratic," the other nurse informed him.

Tsuburaya scowled. "Intubation procedure one. I'm seeing some tracheal damage on the sensor."

Through it all, Saturn kept herself focused on trying to heal Ami. In her mind, she could see an image of Ami teetering on the edge of a precipice. The only thing holding her, keeping her from falling was Saturn's white gloved hand grasping Mizuno's hand. Saturn was feeling herself beginning to strain. She bore down harder. This couldn't end in failure. Ami Mizuno was too important to too many people, least of all herself. But try as she might, all she could manage was a holding action. And the precipice was slowly crumbling beneath Ami. Not much longer would it be until there was nothing holding Ami back. She might even drag Saturn down with her.

"Won't let go," Saturn mumbled as she concentrated. "Don't care if I get pulled in." The nurse beside her looked at Saturn with sympathy.

Then there was a flash of silver light. Everyone but Saturn looked to see what it was. Saturn could feel the aura, so she didn't have to look.

"Ami-Chan!" Queen Serenity cried out. She lurched from the others as King Endymion, Princess Usagi and Minako Aino looked on and fell across Ami's prone body. The medical personnel moved out of her way, but Saturn stayed right where she was.

A silver glow encompassed the Queen and Ami. In Saturn's vision, Queen Serenity swooped up from below and gathered Ami in her arms. Saturn dangled from Ami's hand for a few moments, then lost her grip and fell softly to the ground. She looked up at the Queen, Ami's head resting on the Queen's bared shoulder, and sensed the energy of Serenity flow into Ami. Saturn could feel the Queen's power dwarf her own, but felt no ire. That was as it should be, in her mind.

"BP is one hundred over seventy-five," the nurse read out. "Respiration is stabilizing. EEG returning to normal parameters."

"She's done it," thought Saturn and breathed a sigh of relief.

"You've done it, Serenity," Endymion told her, gently grasping the Queen's shoulders and pulling her back. "She's out of danger." Serenity didn't reply. But as she sagged against her husband, her mouth curled into a smile.

"How are you holding up, Saturn?" Usa asked, a hand on her friend's back to steady her until Saturn could regain some equilibrium.

"I'll be all right," Saturn replied with fatigue. "I'm glad the Queen was able to save her."

"Hey, you helped," Usa told her. Saturn's mouth turned up slightly.

"I'm glad I could help," she said wistfully.

* * *

With the danger past, Endymion tended to the clearly fatigued Queen and Usa hovered over Hotaru. Minako was shooed out of the treatment room by the doctor and outside met up with her anxious fellow senshi.

"Blondie! How is she?" Makoto asked desperately.

"Out of danger," Minako sighed. Then she grinned. "Between Hotaru on one side and Serenity on the other, I don't think she had much choice."

"Thank the gods," Rei whispered. Makoto sagged back against the wall, then slid down until she was sitting on the floor. Minako knelt down next to her.

"You going to be OK?" Minako asked. Grinning again, she said, "I'm not giving you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."

"Blondie, one of these days I'm going to punch you right in the mouth," Makoto responded, an odd sounding combination of a chuckle and a sob.

"OK, what happened?" Minako asked, growing serious.

"This," Makoto began, her head leaning back against the wall, "thing - - came out of nowhere. Bowled us both over with some sort of energy attack. By the time I got my wits together, she was trying to choke Ami to death." Makoto noticed Minako staring at the bruise on her forehead. "It's nothing. Ami got the worst of it."

"So what did this 'thing' look like?" Minako prodded.

"Female," Makoto sighed. "About my height, but leaner. All in black, like something was coating her skin - - or maybe it was her skin. It sort of reflected some light, like latex used to do."

"Containment suit?" Rei suggested.

"Maybe," Minako replied. "Anything else? Hair color, eye color, any special abilities or attacks?"

"No hair," Makoto shook her head. "Eyes glowed light blue. Aside from the energy burst she hit us with initially," and Makoto thought for a moment, "she was fast. Quick and agile as a cat, but straight line speed, she was as fast as anyone I've seen." She considered the statement. "Except maybe Haruka."

"Did she seem human?" Rei inquired.

"Think she was some sort of demon?" Minako asked her.

"I don't know yet," the priest responded. "Now that Endymion's back, maybe I'll take a look at the surveillance video his drones no doubt got."

"Well I'm not much for identifying demons," Makoto scowled. "But if this woman was human, she's not like any human I've ever seen."

* * *

After assuring Usa that she was all right - - for the tenth time - - Hotaru did a remote check on Ami's condition. Seeing that her mentor was stable, but still unconscious, Hotaru decided she had time to check with Sun-Sensei as she had originally planned to do before all of this went down. The incident with her tablet scared her. Her telekinesis had always been stubborn and capricious, but violent? That was harkening back to the old days, before she had traveled to the thirtieth century, when she lived in fear of what she thought she was destined to become.

In his office just off their classroom, Sun listened to Hotaru's tale placidly. When she finished, Hotaru watched expectantly as the elderly Chinese man digested her tale. Her impatience began to grow, until finally she couldn't resist asking.

"Tomoe-Chan," Sun began earnestly, "when I was young, the ability to make things spontaneously combust was at first a fearsome thing. I once woke up after a particularly frightening dream to find my bedroom on fire. When I began to gain control of my ability, so that the fires started when I commanded, the ability became a powerful thing. Quickly, in my youthful ignorance, my ability became a means to frighten and oppress others. Others suffered at my hand, and ultimately I suffered, for I destroyed the trust and empathy others had for me. Finally, when I learned to totally control it, I also learned when to use it and when to lock it away." He leaned in and smiled at the girl. "Now, Tomoe-Chan, what changed in my situation? My ability?"

"I guess not," Hotaru murmured. "What changed was your ability to control it."

"True," he nodded. "But what also changed was how I perceived my ability. The ability itself remained the same. I was the one who saw it differently: First as a curse, then as a bludgeon, and finally as an aspect of myself, not unlike my right hand."

"So you're saying that," Hotaru struggled, "I'm the one making my power evil?"

"You base your perceptions on your history," Sun advised her. "You have always looked at your ability in fear of what it will do, and thus your fear colors your power, makes it resistant and difficult to control. You try to make your power work with the assumption that you will fail, rather than the expectation that you will succeed. Expect that you will succeed and risk being disappointed rather than assume that you will fail and sadly be correct."

Hotaru sighed and looked down. "I'll try," she said.

Sun looked at her sadly. "It almost sounds like an apology. Tomoe-Chan, do not envy the successes of others. If you do nothing more than keep your ability from destructive outbursts, you have succeeded. But you are capable of so much more, if only you will let go of the past that haunts you and keeps you from believing in yourself and the good you are capable of."

Hotaru nodded and walked out of the office and into the classroom. Valeri Brugarov was there, using his power to predict which light would randomly shine on a square grid. Upon seeing Hotaru, Valeri abandoned his light board and came over to her.

"You are Hotaru, correct?" he said, his Japanese thick with a Russian accent. He swiped a lock of his blond hair out of his eyes.

"Yes," Hotaru replied shyly. "You're Brugarov-kun, right?" She let the mistake in etiquette on his part slide because he was new to the country.

"Correct," Valeri nodded. "You were speaking with teacher. Are you in trouble?"

"No," the girl shook her head, her body involuntarily closed off and defensive. "I was just having some trouble with my studies and I needed to talk it over."

"I remember," Valeri said sympathetically. "You will get it. Teacher is very good and I hear from others that you are very dedicated and hard-working. Do not lose hope."

"Thank you," Hotaru offered.

"If you wish, I could help you after school? Coach you to relax, help try to find center." He grinned boyishly. "Have dinner together as well?"

Hotaru grimaced. She always found it so difficult to say "no" to people, for fear of how they would react. But she knew Palla-Palla's feelings for Brugarov. And she was already involved.

"Um," Hotaru began, shifting nervously, "it's very nice of you, but I already have plans for tonight," she lied, "with my boyfriend."

"Oh," Valeri said and Hotaru didn't have to be psychic to know his interest had been more than being helpful. "He is - - a lucky man." Valeri painted a brave smile on himself. "If you do need help, I will be glad to assist. And do not despair. You will get it."

Hotaru thanked him and left. Crisis averted, and all with just a little tiny lie. She hoped she hadn't hurt him too bad.

Then she wondered if she could get him interested in Palla-Palla.

* * *

When Rei was passed into Endymion's computer room, she experienced a familiar sensation. She never liked going into the computer room. The entire room was filled with Endymion's massive processing and data bank, storehouse of ninety-five percent of the world's accumulated and preserved knowledge from today and history. And though the priest thought the idea was a good one, she as usual didn't trust machines or for that matter anything she couldn't read with her psychic senses.

She also experienced surprise, because in the computer room with Endymion was her favorite person in the universe, Usa. On the computer's gigantic four foot tall monitor was surveillance footage from the attack on Ami and Makoto on The Promenade. Usa was studying it with the intensity Rei studied humans with. Rei smiled. The girl had her father's intensity when it came to protecting those close to her.

"Hi, Aunt Rei," Usa mumbled as she stared at the monitor.

"Hi, Muffin," Rei smiled. She turned to Endymion and grew serious. "I wanted to look at the incident to see if I can tell whether this strange attacker is a demon. Minako thought it was a good idea - - but I'd like to do it anyway."

Endymion smothered a smile. "Certainly," he replied and pushed a crystal stud on his control panel.

The footage cycled back to the beginning. An energy bubble shot down the street, plowing up pavement as it sped toward the unsuspecting Ami and Makoto. It struck them like a bowling ball struck pins, scattering the two women and several other citizens near them. Rei pushed herself to focus on the woman in black and ignore the emotions the scenes of Ami being viciously beaten and strangled stirred within her. She studied the creature's moves, its stance, as much of its spiritual presence that could transfer onto a video recording, as well as the way it fought Sailor Jupiter. When the sequence ended, Endymion turned to her inquiringly while Usa turned inward.

"It doesn't seem like a demon or spirit," Rei concluded. "I'd have to visit the site of the confrontation to be certain, but I don't see anything to indicate a demon."

"Then what is it?" Endymion asked rhetorically.

"It's Uncle Haruka," Usa spoke up.

"What?" Endymion exclaimed. "Usa, what are you saying?"

"Couldn't you tell by the attack? The moves? That was Sailor Uranus!" Usa maintained. "I'm not saying it was actually Uncle Haruka. But those are her moves."

"Are you sure?" Rei asked.

"Aunt Rei, I've spent my entire life studying Mom and the Senshi," Usa argued. "I know everybody's moves and attacks inside and out. Whatever that thing is, it was doing a perfect imitation of Sailor Uranus."

Silently Endymion pulled up another loop of video. This was a sequence involving Sailor Uranus fighting Kaolinite from the twentieth century. He watched the loop while the others silently waited for him to finish.

"Yes, I can see the similarities now," Endymion commented. "Especially the energy attack. Good eye, Honey."

"Maybe I was wrong," scowled Rei. "A fox demon could mimic someone else's form. Even use its fox magic to mimic Uranus's attack. I'd better go over there and confirm this one way or the other."

"Take Minako with you," Endymion suggested. "If this isn't a random act, this thing may be targeting the Senshi. Possibly more."

"Mom?" Usa asked.

"The thought occurred to me," Endymion replied. "Meanwhile I'll ask Haruka if anything unusual has happened to her recently that might explain this."

Rei exited. Endymion got up to leave, but stopped when his daughter didn't follow.

"Usa?"

"I want to look at this video some more," the Princess replied. "See if I can pick up anything else from it."

"All right," he smiled. It always amazed him how intense his daughter could be sometimes. Was it that long ago that she was riding on his shoulders, Luna-P floating beside them?

When the door hissed shut, Usa slid into her father's chair and ran the video again. Normally she would be giddy just being allowed to play with her father's vaunted computer system, a system she envied him having. But right now she was all focus. As the footage rolled again, the pink-tressed senshi studied it some more. Clearly those were Uranus's moves, her fighting style. Usa focused on the black covering on the woman's body. Was it a disguise? Was it some sort of exo-skeleton that was giving her Uranus's abilities? Or was it what she was actually constructed of, some new type of organic or inorganic matter?

A signal appeared on the computer's control panel. It was the intruder alert signal. Pressing a stud on the board, Usa pulled up the surveillance drone that had made contact. On the screen was another woman all in black. She was climbing up the side of the palace wall, adhering to the face of the stone itself.

Impossible? Not according to what Usa saw. If the height and bust weren't a giveaway, the barely perceptible electrical sparks her hands and feet gave off confirmed it. It was mimicking Sailor Jupiter, using her control over electricity to generate electromagnetic fields to attract the metal supports in the wall and scale the sheer face of the palace.

Immediately, Usa bolted from the computer room, racing to the location of the intruder. She transformed as she ran, then engaged her senshi communicator.

Continued in Chapter 4


	4. A Familiar Attack

Similitude  
Chapter 4: "Familiar Attack"  
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Jun was in the quarters she shared with her three adoptive sisters. On her computer station was a video stream of a Colombian music group that she had recently discovered. She had become a big fan of the group, because they were one of the new wave of anti-authoritarian artists rising among the youth of Colombia in the wake of the deposed dictator. She also liked them because they possessed a hard, driving sound that flaunted conventional music rules.

And the guitar player was just obscenely good looking.

Cere was at her station, absently paging through the latest in fashion. To Jun's mind, she didn't seem to be paying that much attention. She would have asked, but her attention was too preoccupied with the band, Oppression's Enemy. It barely registered when she heard the door to the quarters hiss open. A glance told her Ves had returned from working out.

"Palla-Palla around?" Ves asked.

"Haven't seen her," Jun replied distantly.

"You're going to go cross-eyed staring at that monitor that hard," Ves grunted.

"And if YOU don't stop beating on that heavy bag so much, you'll have arthritis in your fingers by the time you're thirty," Jun volleyed back. "So what's got you so worried about Palla-Palla?"

"I think she's hiding something," Ves scowled. "She's been acting funny. She say anything to either of you?"

"Not me," Jun replied. "But I've been working on my hoverbike a lot, so she hasn't had much chance." She glanced over at Cere. "She say anything to you, Cere?"

"Not since yesterday," Cere shrugged. "She asked me about boys."

"Boys? Palla-Palla?" Jun responded.

"Anybody in particular?" Ves asked suspiciously.

"No," Cere sighed. "Just wanted advice about boys in general."

"What did you tell her?" Jun asked.

"That they're pigs," Cere frowned, glancing back at her sister.

"Are you still mad at Hiroki?" Jun gaped.

"Did I tell you he was painting a NAKED woman?"

"About a dozen times. Cere, artists do use naked models."

"I've offered to pose nude for him!" Cere snapped. "He's always refused. And then I walk in and find him painting a strange naked woman, who is posing naked and in his studio! Just the two of them! And SHE'S NAKED!"

"Think he's cheating on you?" Jun supposed.

"I don't know," Cere replied, her head flopping back on the chair back.

"Did you ask him?"

"I don't want him to lie to me," Cere fumed.

"You know," Jun sighed, "maybe there's a reasonable explanation for it."

Cere folded her arms over her chest. "Then he can come over here and tell me. You notice he hasn't."

"Maybe he's afraid the wind will blow him away," grunted Ves.

"Don't you have a bin of grain to infest like a good little vermin?" Cere replied acidly.

"Any idea where Palla-Palla might be?" Ves asked Jun, ignoring Cere's retort.

"Not really. Why?" Jun said.

"I want to find out why she's suddenly so interested in boys," Ves murmured thoughtfully. "If some guy's pressuring her, I want to know about it."

"So you can handle it NON-LETHALLY, right?" Jun asked.

Ves scowled. "Yeah, I guess I gotta do it that way. But hey, I can deliver a message without breaking bones."

Just then, the senshi communicators on all three girls activated. Ves responded first.

"South wall of the palace, level four!" they heard Usa say. "We've got an intruder scaling the outer wall!"

"On our way!" Ves responded and shot out the door, Jun and Cere close on her heels.

* * *

As she ran down the corridor, Sailor Moon followed her handheld PDA that was linked to the intruder alert program on her father's computer. The program, coordinating surveillance cameras placed all through the palace, was tracking the movement of the woman in black. Sailor Moon could see the intruder was on one of the level four balconies. The intruder pressed her hand up against the door leading into the palace. The hand emitted a burst of electricity, shorting out the electronic lock on the door. Sliding it open, the intruder burst into the palace interior.

"Intruder is in the palace!" Sailor Moon said into both her PDA and into her senshi communicator. "Level four from the southeast balcony! Palace security, converge on level four!"

Skidding to a stop at a junction corridor, Sailor Moon saw the woman. She was all in black and to the senshi's eye the black was the woman's skin rather than some sort of costume or containment suit. That fact was filed, for Sailor Moon had something more important to worry about. The intruder was headed directly for the palace Shinto shrine and the Princess's first thought was that her Aunt Rei was the next target.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!" Sailor Moon shouted, holding the Moon Tier aloft.

Unfortunately her need to deliver her attack phrase revealed herself to the intruder, as her voice echoed down the corridor. The strange woman stopped and turned, even as waves of pink energy washed over her. Lifting her hand while she still could, the woman in black shot a bolt of electricity at the Princess. The bolt leaped to the metal Moon Tier and blasted it from Sailor Moon's hand. It clattered onto the floor while Sailor Moon grasped her stinging hand. The creature resumed her charge toward Rei's shrine.

Undaunted, Sailor Moon charged after her. She silently wished she still had her tiara attack in this new form, - - the wind resistance against the costume's wings was bad enough - -but she would attack the woman bodily if she needed to. That in itself wouldn't be an easy task. If this woman was capable of mimicking Sailor Jupiter's abilities, it would be a formidable opponent. Despite many attempts over the years, Usa had never been able to best her Aunt Makoto at martial arts. Few had. But she had to try. Even if she failed, she had to delay this woman enough to keep her from Rei until reinforcements arrived.

But when the strange woman entered the junction corridor that led into the shrine, she was jumped by a full grown female Bengal tiger and sent sprawling.

"Vesta!" Sailor Moon thought happily. "It has to be Vesta!"

She converged on the intersection simultaneously with Juno and Ceres. Vesta had the woman pinned to the floor, the woman's hands pressed to Vesta's neck and struggling to hold back Vesta's bared teeth.

"Get off of her, Vesta!" Sailor Moon shouted.

But what she feared would happen happened. Electricity flowed from the intruder's hands into Vesta's tiger form. She shivered for a few seconds in the grip of the current, then leaped back from the woman in black like repellant poles. Vesta landed with a thud and lay helpless.

Juno was about to bring her water powers to bear, but a pair of bolts from the intruder sent her and Ceres retreating down the corridor out of range. Sailor Moon moved in, launching a flying kick at the woman. The intruder easily deflected it. Sailor Moon landed and got into a fighting stance. So did the intruder. It was Makoto's fighting stance. This woman had every martial arts skill Makoto had, plus command over electricity. Sailor Moon was at a disadvantage and she knew it.

"Aqua Initiation!" Juno called out.

A pipe burst through the wall next to the intruder, drenching her with high volume water spray. Sailor Moon backtracked instantly, not wanting to be close in the event that Juno's trick worked and the creature shorted out. Though electricity popped and spat loudly with the introduction of the water, the intruder remained upright.

"What's going on out here?" Rei Hino demanded, emerging from the shrine. Apparently the priest hadn't left yet to investigate the site of the previous attack.

The creature and the senshi turned to her simultaneously. The ebony creature lunged for the priest. Sailor Moon lunged too, trying to cut her off. Rei backed up several paces, surprised by the woman's appearance. But the woman was too fast. She seized Rei by the upper arms and poured an electrical charge into the priest. A strangled cry emerged from Rei. It was short, though, as Sailor Moon barreled into the ebony creature, driving her shoulder into the woman's hip. She broke the grip it had on Rei and sent it flailing to the floor before rolling off to elude a shock. Rei sank to the floor in a heap.

The creature started to roll to her feet to either renew its attack or escape. But a gleaming metal blade poised at its throat stopped the creature in its tracks.

"Move and I'm not responsible for your safety," Sailor Saturn hissed. Her glaive held steady at the creature's throat, the glaive's wooden handle protecting Saturn from the creature's electricity. Sailor Moon scrambled to her feet next to Saturn. Glancing down the corridor, she noticed Sailor Pallas running up.

"Pallas, can you knock her out?" Sailor Moon asked.

Pallas stopped and put her index fingers to her temples. "You need to go beddy-bye time now!" The creature's head lolled back and she slumped to the floor unconscious.

Instantly Saturn and Sailor Moon were at the side of Rei. Saturn quickly checked her vital signs.

"Infirmary, this is Sailor Saturn," Saturn said decisively into a nearby intercom. "We need an emergency medical unit to level four by the shrine!"

At that moment palace security arrived. Sailor Moon pointed at the squad leader.

"We need this subject placed in a magnetic restraint board and secured for transport and holding in the Infirmary!" she commanded.

"Yes, Princess!" nodded the guard. He turned to his squadron and began barking orders. Vesta, now awake, ambled up to Sailor Moon and Saturn, and was joined by the other Asteroids.

"What is that thing?" Vesta asked, rubbing her neck.

"I don't know - - yet," Sailor Moon scowled. "But I sure wish Aunt Ami was awake to take some scans of it."

The senshi converged on the infirmary, where Rei was taken for treatment and the intruder for analysis. Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn went inside. They were quickly joined by the King and Queen, the cats, and the remaining elder senshi. Since no one invited them, the Asteroids stayed outside. Noticing Pallas was preoccupied, Vesta eased over and sat down next to her.

"You OK?" Vesta asked.

Pallas didn't answer at first.

"Look, Pallas, is some guy pressuring you?" Vesta asked, trying to control her anger. "You can tell me. You know I gotta look out for you."

"No, Vesta," Pallas looked down. "Pallas isn't being - - um, that word."

"So where you been all afternoon?"

"PKE class." Pallas seemed weighed down by something. "Vesta. Please don't be mad. Pallas did a bad thing."

"What did you do?" Vesta asked, more curious than anything.

"Pallas used her brain to peek into somebody else's brain," Pallas confessed, shame twisting her features, "because she was nosy."

"Well it's not like you never done that before," Vesta assured her.

"But Sensei says it's wrong," Pallas argued. "And Pallas was trying not to do it." Her lip quivered. "But she couldn't resist."

"Find out anything good?" joked Vesta, trying to ease her guilt. But it had the opposite effect. Vesta grew concerned.

"No, Vesta," Pallas said. By now Juno and Ceres were listening, too. "Please don't be mad."

"I'm not going to be mad," Vesta huffed. "What did you read?"

Pallas grimaced. "Mister Valeri-Sir - - he's a boy in Pallas's PKE class. Pallas likes him. Pallas wants him to be her boyfriend. Pallas thinks he's very pretty." Tears formed at her eyes. "But Pallas peeked into his head - - and found out he likes Miss Hotaru-Ma'am."

Everyone looked down.

"Why doesn't he like Pallas, Vesta?" Pallas asked with child-like heartache.

"What did I tell you? Pigs," Ceres said softly.

"Give it a rest, Your Majesty," grumbled Vesta. "Pallas, you're asking the wrong person. I don't know anything about all that stuff."

"Maybe he just doesn't know you well enough," Juno offered.

"He doesn't know Miss Hotaru-Ma'am any better than he knows Pallas," she sniffed. "Why does he like her? It must be because she's smarter than Pallas, and prettier and . . ."

"Hey, none of that stuff," Vesta cut her off quietly. "Look, Pallas - - I don't know why two people fall in love. But I do know that sometimes it's just a one-way street."

"But Mister Valeri-Sir wasn't in the street," Pallas said glumly.

"No," Vesta began, then stopped. She grunted in frustration. "Pallas, it's not your fault. It's not because you're not good enough, or pretty enough or smart enough or whatever. It's just that - - sometimes you can love somebody, but they don't love you back. It happens. Nothing you can do about it."

"Did it ever happen to you, Vesta?" Pallas asked tearfully.

"Me? Nah," Vesta replied. "But I remember this guy in the old neighborhood. Had the hots for this one girl bad. But she didn't love him. Wasn't nothing about him that triggered those feelings. And he couldn't do nothing to change her. So you see, it happens."

Pallas sniffed. "Like how Pallas loves her mommy," Pallas squeaked out, "but her mommy doesn't love Pallas?"

All three girls winced.

"Maybe not that bad," Juno quickly told her. "But like Vesta said, it's nothing you did wrong."

"Pallas," Ceres ventured, "if it's going to be too hard being in class with him, maybe we can get a special tutoring session set up for you. So you don't have to see him."

Pallas gave them a non-committal nod.

"You're," Juno began, "not mad at Hotaru, are you?"

"No," Pallas shook her head. "It isn't Miss Hotaru-Ma'am's fault. She can't help it if she's smarter and prettier than Pallas." The senshi sighed. "Pallas wishes she was smart and pretty."

* * *

"That's supposed to be me?" Makoto exclaimed.

She, Minako, Endymion and Sailor Saturn were looking at the restrained woman in black. The prisoner was held to a sensory bed by a magnetic restraint field in the infirmary. Endymion and Saturn were studying the bio-sensor readouts.

"Well, she's got your rack," Minako offered. Makoto rolled her eyes.

"She also could transmit electricity through her body," Saturn added. "And Sailor Moon said her hand-to-hand combat style was just like yours."

"But how?" Makoto demanded.

"How about we peel off that suit and find out?" Minako suggested.

"It's not a suit," Endymion replied, still studying the bio-sensor telemetry. "That's her natural skin. The coloring and texture is due to its particular genetic makeup. It may occur naturally in - - well, in whatever race and species she is."

"And characteristic mimicry might be natural to whatever she is, too," Sailor Moon said. She entered the room from where the emergency crews had taken Rei.

"How's Rei doing?" Minako asked with concern.

"She's stable," Sailor Moon related. "Still out, though. Dr. Tsuburaya says she may be out for a while. She got a pretty nasty shock. Mom's staying with her."

"So our next step is to find out what our intruder is and why she and her partner are attacking the Elder Senshi," Endymion stated.

"Wait! This isn't the one who attacked Ami and Makoto?" Minako asked.

"No, she's different from the one I fought," Makoto said. Then she snapped her fingers. "I thought that fighting style looked familiar!"

"Yeah," Sailor Moon nodded. "Uncle Haruka."

"So somebody is definitely copying senshi," Minako summarized. Just then a new virtual screen appeared amid the bio-sensor readouts. It was Ami's face on a virtual monitor screen.

"You're closer than you think, Minako," Ami said.

"Hey, you're awake!" Makoto smiled joyously.

"Yes. I apologize for worrying you, Makoto," Ami offered.

"Don't worry about it. Just get well."

"I've been looking over the sensor scans of the subject you have," Ami began.

"Hey, don't push yourself!" Makoto admonished.

"Makoto, I'm quite capable of thinking," Ami fussed. "I just can't do anything exerting for a few days. Back to the matter at hand. This subject isn't just mimicking your abilities as Sailor Jupiter, Makoto. They're her abilities, too."

"But the fighting style? I learned that," Makoto countered.

"I'm still puzzling that out. But there is one other explanation for her ability to channel electricity. The genetic scans confirm it, Makoto," Ami persisted. "This being is a genetic clone of Sailor Jupiter."

Continued in Chapter 5


	5. The Sister I Never Knew

Similitude  
Chapter 5: "The Sister I Never Knew"  
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Turning her attention away from the toddler in the stasis tube, Dr. Ran Yoshida focused on the face appearing on a telecommunications monitor. The man on the monitor was Donald Arcudi, head of Broko-Shearing-Wilson. Broko-Shearing-Wilson was a corporation in the United States of North America. The firm started out one hundred twenty-eight years ago as a company that bought and sold debt. As they grew, the firm expanded into other areas. By 2998, they had interests in nearly fifty different businesses, from Hydroponic Agriculture to Cybernetically controlled weaponry.

And Donald Arcudi was in control of it all. Some said he was the most powerful man in the USNA. Everyone conceded he was at least top five. Arcudi was fifty-nine, with thick but receding white hair, broad shoulders that were beginning to stoop and a full, blocky face that was drooping here and there. He had an intense gaze, more money than anyone in the world, a trophy wife and two mistresses, each of whom didn't know about the other one, and the power to shape events and influence governments. In a world being slowly influenced by the benign example of Queen Serenity, he was becoming an anachronism.

But he wasn't one yet.

He was also a man used to getting what he wanted. And what he wanted was the Imperium Silver Crystal.

"Dr. Yoshida," Arcudi began charitably from his position of power. "Status report."

"Phase one is being completed," Dr. Yoshida replied tolerantly. She disliked this man's assumed importance and the way he treated her like a middle manager in one of his crystal communications companies. He needed her to accomplish what he wanted. He just refused to acknowledge that fact. "With the two worst threats to this operation neutralized, we can move on phase two as soon as the sample has sufficiently grown."

"And when will that be?" Arcudi asked, his voice betraying that it wasn't the answer he had desired.

"When the operative reaches sufficient physical maturity and the education streams have been implanted," Yoshida exhaled. "You cannot rush these things. Even artificial acceleration of cloned humanoid tissue takes time to fully grow."

"If you're unable to maintain the project's optimal pace," Arcudi told her, "I can send some of my people to assist you."

"That won't make this project move faster," Yoshida countered. "It will only slow it up! I don't need your lackeys underfoot!"

"Then get that crystal," Arcudi frowned. "I want it. I want Queen Serenity's power. And if you can't deliver it in a reasonable amount of time, I'll send in someone who can."

The screen went black. Yoshida removed her optical visor and massaged between her eyebrows. Dealing with that man always gave her a headache. If it wasn't for the fact that his liberal allowance of the use of his money brought her process from a theory to a reality, she would tell him to eat glass.

Yoshida glanced at the chronometer on her computer station. Her operative was overdue. If she had been caught and the scientists and physicians at the Crystal Palace got a chance to study her, that could put her at a disadvantage, even without the vaunted Ami Mizuno to examine the findings.

Looking back at the humanoid form growing in the stasis tube, Yoshida's lips thinned. She didn't want to accelerate the process. But she might not have a choice for much longer.

* * *

"T-That's," Makoto stammered, her eyes fixed on the black figure held to the sensor bed, "a-a copy . . . of me?"

Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn leaned in to study the captive more intently, exhibiting all of the voracious wonder of youth. Makoto, on the other hand, was horrified, while Endymion and Minako seemed more ill-at-ease than curious.

"Technically, it's a genetic copy of your senshi form of Sailor Jupiter," Ami corrected her over the virtual link from her infirmary room, "with a few genetic differences. I'm sorry, Makoto."

"But why? Why would anybody do this?" Makoto demanded. "This is so sick and wrong that it defies description!"

"Well," Saturn began, "if someone wanted a warrior with the power and skill to take on the Sailor Senshi, who better than the Sailor Senshi?"

"There could be more of these!" Makoto gasped.

"I think that's a reasonable assumption," Sailor Moon said grimly. "That one that attacked you and Aunt Ami - - I already had her pegged as resembling Sailor Uranus."

"Are we certain that this isn't some animate or mirror duplicate?" Minako asked, the usually unruffled senshi clearly unsettled by this. "You know, like Nehelenia and her mirrors?"

"Nehelenia's duplicates were crystalline life forms, Minako," Ami responded. "This subject is organic. And the statistical match of genetic markers indicates cloning as the likely manner of production. It's a very sophisticated job, too. The fact that certain memories were able to be cloned, indicated by the duplicate's ability to mimic Makoto's martial arts training, points to a process that may very well be the next step in the science."

On the virtual screen, everyone saw Ami put her hand to her head. Making a gesture to the virtual field, Endymion called up a telemetry readout.

"Ami, your pulse and blood pressure are elevating," Endymion said. "I'm sending Dr. Tsuburaya in to check on you. Perhaps you should lay back until then."

Ami sighed in frustration. She looked like she wanted to argue.

"Ami," Makoto said urgently. "Don't push yourself!"

"Very well," she finally conceded. "I'll leave further investigation of this to you and the others, Endymion. But please keep me apprised. I don't want this to possibly escalate just because you were worried about my health."

The virtual screen winked out. Minako noticed Makoto staring at the prisoner.

"Can we count on you?" Minako asked softly. "I know this is a low blow, but we're going to need you."

Makoto just stared. "You know, Ami told me once about that time when Viluy kidnapped her and put an android double in her place. She always talked about how eerie it was looking at herself on Viluy's monitor. I never got it. I mean I sympathized. But I never really understood - - until now."

Minako put her hand on Makoto's shoulder. At the same time Saturn was noticing something on the virtual vital sign display over the prisoner. At once, to everyone's surprise, she touched a point on the screen. The display shifted to a full body scan of the subject. Something was glowing in the center of her chest like the core of a nuclear chamber.

"What are you doing?" Endymion gasped as Saturn began pressing points on the screen.

"Cryogenic suspended . . ." was all she got out.

Suddenly the chest of the woman in black burst open, white hot fire leaping out of her. Instantly the room filled with the acrid stench of smoke and burning flesh. The fire burned white hot, consuming most of the body until the fire triggered the room's fire suppression mode. White flame retardant chemical foam sprayed down on the bed as everyone fell back so as not to get burned. The fire was out in seconds. According to the sensor readout above the bed, all that was left were charred remains of bed and humanoid.

"Makoto; Minako; go to Serenity. STAY with her," Endymion ordered. "I'm transmitting copies of this surveillance file and all relevant information to Palace Security and to Chief Nakamura at the CDP. We're going to try to run this to ground before anything else happens. Sailor Moon...!"

But Sailor Moon was already out the door, with Saturn scampering to catch up. Outside, her senshi turned to her.

"Let's go," Sailor Moon told them with imposing gravity. "We've got work to do."

The six senshi adjourned to one of the empty conference rooms on one of the palace lower levels. On the way down, Sailor Moon had filled the others in on what had happened. The news was greeted with gasps of amazement and incredulity. While the others sat down, Sailor Moon jacked her PDA into the environmental control computer for the room, then linked it with her father's computer. As she worked, there was a signal on her PDA of an incoming call.

"Yes, Pop?" Sailor Moon answered.

"I was just wondering what you planned," Endymion ventured cautiously. "I wouldn't want to be, oh, working at cross purposes with your team."

"We're going to run these senshi clones down, find out who's making them and sending them after the elders and shut them down," Sailor Moon replied. The command in Sailor Moon's voice caught everyone's attention.

Endymion digested this. "All right. Two requests: one, coordinate your movements with both myself and with Chief Nakamura. I don't want his people intruding on one of your operations anymore than I want you intruding on his."

"No problem, Pop," Sailor Moon replied as she worked her PDA. "What's the other one?"

"Be careful," Endymion said. Sailor Moon smiled. "If there are more of these 'senshi clones' as you call them, they're very formidable and not to be taken lightly."

"No joke," Sailor Moon muttered. "Will do, Pop. Keep Mom safe, OK?"

"Always," Endymion replied and ended the transmission.

"We're going to be taking on clones of the Elders?" Ceres asked uncomfortably. "That clone of Jupiter-Sensei was tough enough!"

"We have to find them first," Sailor Moon frowned. She touched her PDA screen and a holographic image projected above it. It was a view of a section of Crystal Tokyo street taken from a surveillance drone. "This vehicle is the one the Uranus clone escaped in after attacking Aunt Ami and Aunt Makoto. I downloaded it from Pop's computer. As you see here, the clone stops, exits the vehicle and destroys the drone with an energy burst that resembles Uranus's Space Sword attack." On cue the projection went black. "From this point, no drone is able to pick up this vehicle again."

"So the hideout is somewhere in that sector," concluded Vesta.

"Or she switched vehicles," suggested Juno.

"CDP didn't find the vehicle in this sector," Sailor Moon told them. "They didn't find any link to the clones at all. Their theory is the vehicle engaged optical camouflage to conceal their route as they entered the next surveillance sector."

"So we're screwed," Vesta muttered.

"As far as electronics, yes," Sailor Moon nodded. "Pallas, if I pull up the last frame of the vid before it goes black, do you think you could try to get a vision of what happened next?"

"It works better if Pallas has a picture to hold," Pallas demurred.

"Gotcha covered," Sailor Moon responded and slid a printout of the surveillance vid capture to her.

Taking the picture in both hands, Pallas sat back in her chair and stared at it. Seconds passed into minutes. Everyone waited silently, trying to keep their thoughts on her and the picture without urging her along, so as not to risk her picking up a stray thought and being distracted. Pallas kept staring at the photo, her gaze gradually seeming to be far, far away. But after the longest time, the senshi's shoulders slumped and she exhaled in frustration.

"Pallas couldn't see anything," the teen said sadly, "except the Night Lady squeezing Miss Ami-Ma'am's throat. Pallas is sorry."

"You did your best," Sailor Moon told her. "Anybody else got any ideas?"

"I could ask the trees on that street," Ceres offered. "But depending on how far she went, it could take a while to find her."

"I could become a bloodhound," Vesta suggested. "Track her scent."

"She was in a hovercar," Juno challenged. "Do they have scents?"

"Yeah. I trailed one in Sao Paulo."

"I doubt there's much of a scent left after all this time," Sailor Moon shook her head.

"Wait," Saturn spoke up. "There's a boy in my PKE class. He's able to predict the outcome of things, and see events in other places. Maybe he can help us."

"Are you talking about Mister Valeri-Sir?" Pallas asked. Saturn nodded.

"It's worth a shot," Sailor Moon replied. "I just get the feeling that the longer whoever is doing this is out there, the more likely it'll be that something bad happens." The six senshi got up and headed out.

* * *

"According to the post-mortem, there were chemical compounds implanted in the body which, if a counteracting agent wasn't injected to stop it, would combine in the heart to form a phosphorous compound that would melt through the chest cavity and ignite upon contact with oxygen," Endymion said. He was in virtual communication with Serenity, Minako and Makoto in the Royal Chambers, while he worked from his computer room.

"Guess whoever made this wanted their tech to remain a secret," Minako commented.

"That's positively ghastly!" Serenity howled. "What kind of mind could even conceive of such a thing!"

"The same kind of mind that goes around cloning people behind their back," Makoto grumbled. "We have to find these guys."

"Agreed," Endymion said. "My computer is backtracking through surveillance records to find any link to these 'night warriors', as Usa put it. CDP is investigating and Sailor Moon and the Senshi have taken the initiative to use their own resources."

Minako glanced at Serenity, saw the worried look she expected to see, and smiled to herself.

"I'll pass this along to Artemis," Minako added. "He's got a knack for picking up trails in unexpected places. It might help if someone could forward him any component parts or process requirements needed to run a cloning operation, assuming he doesn't already know what to look for."

"I'll see to it," Endymion told her.

"Endymion," Serenity spoke up, "is there any word on Rei? Or Ami?"

"Ami's still recovering according to Dr. Tsuburaya's chart, but she is conscious," Endymion replied, bringing up the charts of the two patients in virtual mode. "Rei's still unconscious, but her vital signs are improving, so she's not in any immediate danger."

"Would it be all right if I visited?" Serenity inquired timidly.

"It shouldn't be a problem for Ami," Endymion assured her. "As for Rei, I'd clear it with Dr. Tsuburaya first." He smiled knowingly at her. "And try to refrain from healing them unless it's an emergency. You know how much it takes out of you."

"Yes, smartie," Serenity scowled.

Endymion's virtual screen winked out. Makoto turned to Minako as they accompanied Serenity out of the Royal Quarters and up to the infirmary.

"First Ames and now Rei," Makoto wondered aloud. "Who do you suppose is going to be the next target?"

"Beats me," Minako replied. "But if it isn't me, I won't know whether to be relieved or insulted."

* * *

The environmental computer in Valeri Brugarov's quarters in a residential building just ten minutes from the Crystal Palace via hovercar or magnetic people mover had announced Sailor Saturn was at the door. As it was common knowledge in Crystal Tokyo that Sailor Saturn was also Hotaru Tomoe, Valeri quickly hurried to answer the summons.

"Tomoe-San," Valeri said in an upbeat voice, in his haste not noticing his mangling of the honorific. "I'm happy to greet you. You are having problem with PKE I can help with? Or perhaps you have changed . . .!"

Then he saw Sailor Moon, who he knew to be the daughter of Crystal Tokyo's king and queen. And behind her were Sailor Moon's senshi, all rapidly gaining in fame even in his native Russia.

"Is problem?" Valeri asked anxiously.

"No, Brugarov-Kun," Saturn began, trying to reassure him. "Actually, there is a PKE matter that you might be able to help me with."

"I would be happy to!" Valeri smiled. "Come in!"

Everyone squeezed into Valeri's small living space. Since he was sixteen and living alone, he usually didn't need that much space. Suddenly with six young women in the quarters, things seemed a little close. Not that Valeri seemed to mind, given the way he was looking at Saturn.

"Um, forgive my quarters, please, Princess Sailor Moon," he apologized. "I'm certain you are used to much better."

"Don't worry about it," Sailor Moon assured him. "And it's just Sailor Moon. I'm 'Princess' when I'm wearing my other clothes," she joked.

Off to the side, unnoticed by everybody except Vesta, Pallas just stared at Valeri. And the more she stared, the sadder she seemed to grow.

"So," Valeri turned back to Saturn, "how may I help you?"

"We're trying to find this person," Sailor Moon said, thrusting the surveillance printout of the night warrior at him. "We were wondering if you'd be able to use your psychic power to give us a lead on where she is, or even where she went after this picture was taken."

"Naturally I will try," Valeri nodded, taking the picture. "It's more than anyone has ever asked of me before. I hope I don't disappoint you."

As Valeri held the picture in his hands and stared at it, Vesta reached over and tapped Sailor Moon on the arm.

"Pallas and me are going to go outside," Vesta told her. "You know, keep watch - - just in case."

"OK," Sailor Moon replied without really grasping the urgency. "If you think it's necessary. Hopefully we won't be long." Vesta nodded and escorted Pallas outside.

Time dragged on. Everybody watched Valeri stare at the picture. They all silently prayed that the youth would come through and give them the lead they needed. But the longer it took without anything happening, the more everyone began to fear that the effort was doomed. Finally Valeri broke his concentration and emitted a sigh of frustration.

"I am sorry, Tomoe-San," Valeri confessed. "Sailor Moon. I see dark shapes. They're broken up by vertical columns of light. But it's all so hazy. I can make nothing definite out. I wish I could see more."

"You tried," Sailor Moon offered. "We're grateful." Taking out her PDA, she downloaded a contact number into his environmental control computer. "If you do see something, contact me at that address. If I'm not there, Diana will get the message to me."

"I shall," he nodded. "Diana is your personal secretary?"

"Yeah," chuckled Sailor Moon. "But don't call her that to her face."

"I won't," Valeri said, confused. "It was good seeing you again, Tomoe-San."

Saturn waved in as unencouraging a manner as she could. Everyone joined Vesta and Pallas outside.

"So now what?" Ceres asked. "Maybe I've been around too many psychics and it's rubbing off, but I get the feeling we'd better find whoever's behind this soon."

Sailor Moon nodded.

Continued in Chapter 6


	6. Assault On The Crystal Palace

Similitude  
Chapter 6: "Assault On The Crystal Palace"  
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Dr. Yoshida was awaken from her sleep by an electronic buzz. It took her a moment to fight through the grogginess of interrupted sleep and identify the sound. The programmed alarm from her remote computer control was activated. It was time. Yoshida pulled herself to the edge of her bed and rubbed her eyes before putting her vision correction visor on. Too many nights of two or three hours sleep was having a negative effect on her health. But scientific discovery was sometimes a harsh mistress.

Downing a stimulant in order to properly focus, Dr. Yoshida walked over to the computer control panel and studied the posted telemetry. After confirming the results, she glanced back at the stasis tube. Where just two hours ago there had been a humanoid female at approximately eleven years of physical age, there was now a fully matured woman. Yoshida's telemetry put her physical age at twenty-four.

Pressing several crystal studs on the control panel, Dr. Yoshida shut down the artificial growth stimulation process and ran another physical scan of the subject, just to confirm the previous scan done by her computer. It was a redundancy, but a necessary one. Things were too dependent on this subject to leave things to chance now. When results of the scan came back and Yoshida was satisfied that all of the parameters were safely met, she pressed another crystal stud. This initiated an instructional program that imprinted directly on the brains of the cloned beings.

After the program ran and imprinting was successful, Dr. Yoshida opened the stasis tubes. The cloned beings woke up from suspended animation and stepped out. There were six in all, each one a different body type, but all with onyx black skin, no hair and blank, featureless faces. They stood before Dr. Yoshida and waited for her next command.

"Your instructions are clear?" she asked. Each clone nodded. "Then go. Strike now and be successful. Prove your worth to the world."

The six cloned beings turned and headed for the exit. Outside of the room was a garage where the hovercars waited. Five of the cloned beings got into one of the hovercars, while the "youngest" of the clones got into the other. The two vehicles were equipped with computerized auto-pilots and exited the garage on a pre-programmed course.

As the door automatically closed behind them, Dr. Yoshida debated whether to hook into the surveillance net and watch the plan unfold or to go back to bed. She really should try to get more sleep. But the desire to watch her creations in action was too much of a temptation. Biting her lip, she got herself some food and then linked into the city's surveillance net.

The theories she was putting to the test were her "babies". She could sleep later.

* * *

While the other senshi questioned Valeri, Pallas and Vesta stood out in the hall outside of Valeri's dwelling and waited. Pallas was very subdued. Vesta wanted to say something, but didn't know what, and didn't know if it would help anyway. So they stood and waited.

"Thank you for bringing Pallas out here, Vesta," Pallas said at last.

"Figured you didn't look very comfortable being in the room with him," Vesta told her. "So that's the guy, huh? You got taste. He is pretty hot." Pallas didn't respond. "But it's pretty obvious that he's hot for Saturn."

"Vesta could tell that?" Pallas asked.

"Yeah, couldn't you?"

"No. But Pallas heard it. She didn't mean to peek. But Mister Valeri-Sir was just so happy to see Miss Saturn-Ma'am, Pallas couldn't help but hear it in his head."

"And the last thing you need is him rubbing it in your face, even if it is unintentional," Vesta added.

They stood silent for a few moments.

"Vesta," Pallas began. "Is this what it's like to be in love with a boy?"

Vesta frowned. "That's tough to answer, Pallas. Mostly because I don't know how bad you've got it for this guy." She leaned back against the wall. "I remember what it was like when I was with Rudolfo. They say you can't fall in love when you're twelve, but they're wrong. Me and Rudolfo was it. And if you feel half of what I felt for Rudolfo for this guy . . ."

"Pallas can peek," the senshi ventured. "Just so she knows. If Vesta doesn't mind."

"Nah, go ahead," Vesta grinned. "You been in there so much already, I don't think I've got much left that you haven't seen."

Pallas closed her eyes. "Think of Mister Rudolfo-Sir."

Vesta swallowed and summoned all the times she spent with Rudolfo, the good and the bad, that she kept in a special box in her mind. Even the intimate times slipped out. Vesta shrugged mentally and didn't try to prevent Pallas from looking. It was probably too late anyway.

Suddenly Pallas's eyes snapped open. She looked at Vesta with surprise and awe, amazed at seeing a side of her sister usually kept hidden away. The two just stood and stared at each other for a few moments.

"It isn't love," Pallas concluded. "It's just wanting."

Vesta draped her arm around Pallas for support. Because Vesta knew that wanting could develop into love if given the proper environment in which to grow. But this want probably wasn't going to get that proper environment. And that frustrated Vesta, because it wasn't fair to Pallas. But love, just like life, wasn't fair a lot of times.

Just then, the door to Valeri's quarters hissed open. Ceres and Juno emerged. Saturn was behind them, while Sailor Moon said her good-byes to Valeri.

"Anything?" Vesta asked.

"Afraid not," Juno responded. "All he saw were a bunch of unidentifiable shapes." Sailor Moon joined them in the hall.

"So now what?" Vesta asked her.

"Now we check in," Sailor Moon told them all. "Then, if CDP or Pop haven't come up with anything, we go to the last spot this 'Night Warrior' was seen and try to extrapolate a break."

* * *

The hovercar pulled up to the perimeter of the front gate of the Crystal Palace. When the five "night warriors" emerged from the vehicle, several of the gate guards moved to challenge them. They had been warned of the "night warriors" by the palace staff and knew they were potentially dangerous. One of the guards on duty put in a call to palace security and to King Endymion.

The guards issued a warning not to advance. When it was ignored, the guards brought up standard issue shock rifles, non-lethal weapons which delivered an incapacitating electrical shock. But one of the warriors stepped forward and threw a massive ball of fire directly at them. As the guards dived out of the way in self-preservation, the ball slammed against the palace gate and was rebuffed.

Another warrior stepped forward. Golden chains shot out from her hands and wrapped around the guards, pinning their arms and legs and rendering them harmless. With precision movements, one warrior retreated and another stepped up. She gestured at the gate and the metal barrier flash froze. Another warrior stepped up and threw a massive energy ball at the frozen gate. Rendered brittle by the extreme cold, the metal shattered into hundreds of pieces. Following quickly behind the blast were the five intruders. They headed as a group past the Queen's garden and toward the front door of the palace itself.

The charging squad of warriors stopped short when the door to the front palace opened. They crouched, ready for an attack. Out of the palace walked four Sailor Senshi: Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Venus, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune.

"Think you can get past us?" Uranus said with an icy glare. "Bring it."

One of the warriors gestured and a sudden tide of water sprang up out of nowhere, barrelling down on the senshi. Venus just smiled.

"Venus!" she shouted. "Love and Beauty Shock!"

The bubble of golden energy shot toward the oncoming tide and cleaved it down the middle, sending the cascading water flooding to each side.

"Aw, now you owe Serenity some flowers!" Venus said mockingly, a rakish smile on her lips.

"This isn't the time to make wise cracks!" Neptune admonished her. At a gesture, a golden violin and bow appeared in her hand. As she bowed the strings, she shouted, "Submarine Violin Tide!"

Knifing through the air directly at the "night warriors" was a sound. At first it was muted like sound waves travelling through water, almost sounding like the pulsing of a heart. Then it rose dramatically in pitch until it was a screeching banshee's wail. The "night warriors" clapped their hands over their ears and bent over in pain, two of them actually driven to one knee by the agonizing sound. They were all incapacitated by the piercing screech - - except one. One warrior withstood the attack.

"I'm guessing she's a clone of Neptune," Venus surmised. "Hey, no problemo. Venus Love Me Chain!"

The Love Me Chain shot out from Venus, seeking to wrap the Neptune clone in its magical links. But with the speed and grace of a senshi, the clone vaulted over the chain, swatting it away as she hurled it. The clone landed expertly and sprang for Venus and Jupiter.

* * *

"The senshi have engaged the enemy," Endymion reported.

He stood guard in the Royal Chambers, watching a PDA that was connected in real time through his computer to observation drones circling the Crystal Palace. In the room with him were Serenity and Luna.

"Can't we go help them, Endymion?" fretted Serenity.

"Certainly not, Your Majesty," Luna addressed her. "It has yet to be established what their main objective is. Until that can be ascertained, you and His Majesty must remain within the protective confines of this room."

"But Luna, what if one of them gets hurt?" Serenity asked.

Luna was about to answer when they both noticed Endymion typing on his PDA. When he noticed their inquisitive stares, he quickly finished his message.

"Usa was just checking in," Endymion told his wife. "They didn't have any luck tracing the origin of these mysterious clones."

"She isn't coming back to the palace, is she?"

"She is now," Endymion admitted. "I told her the palace was under attack."

"ENDYMION!"

"She'd find out on her own," Endymion argued. "And she'd be hurt and upset that we excluded her. And we may need her team to augment the elder senshi."

"So you consciously put our daughter in harm's way?" Serenity gasped in horror.

"Your Majesty," Luna said solemnly. "Faith in her abilities."

Serenity stared down at her hands. "You wouldn't be so quick to say that - - if you knew how dangerous it is being Sailor Moon."

At that moment, the door to the room hissed open. Standing framed in the doorway for just a moment was a "night warrior".

* * *

Despite being under the terrible pain of the violin attack, one of the warriors suddenly removed a hand from her ear and pointed at Neptune. Uranus moved to defend her mate as Neptune pulled the violin from her chin when she became aware of the attack. She was too slow, though, and her body was frozen up to her chin. Though Neptune didn't cry out, everyone could see that she was in a great deal of pain from hypothermia.

"Hold still!" snarled Jupiter as she launched lightning strikes at the attacking warriors. The Neptune clone dodged two of the bolts and lunged to strike at Jupiter. Jupiter countered by grabbing the clone by the wrist and whipping her over her hip. The clone tried to roll with the throw, but still hit the pavement hard. Alert to the others, Jupiter narrowly dodged a Crescent Beam from the Venus clone. Then she saw something out of the corner of her eye. "Uranus, watch where you're swinging that sword!"

Uranus was about to try to hack the ice away from Neptune, even as Venus launched "Rolling Heart Vibration" to scatter the other warriors. The outer turned to Jupiter with a challenge on her face. Jupiter was working her way over to them, launching "Oak Evolution" as she moved.

"We have to get her out of that ice!" Uranus shouted urgently.

"Yeah, but it you use that sword, you might do damage to her, too!" Jupiter shot back.

"Hey, a little help here!" Venus shouted. Uranus responded with "World Shaking" and sent the Neptune and Mars clones flying.

"Let me use my electricity," Jupiter told them. "It's going to hurt, but it won't damage Neptune permanently."

"D-Do it-t!" Neptune gasped.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!" Jupiter shouted. Then as electricity arced between her hands, she jammed them against the ice holding Neptune prisoner. Uranus and Jupiter flinched back as the ice exploded out from Neptune. Neptune sank to the ground, shivering. Uranus was by her side in an instant.

"You going to be OK?" Uranus asked desperately.

"Y-Yes," Neptune gasped. "P-Pity M-Mars isn't h-here!" She looked up at Uranus. "D-Defend the Queen."

Uranus clenched her jaw, then nodded. She stood up with blood in her eyes.

"SPACE TURBULENCE!" Uranus roared.

* * *

"How is that possible?" Luna gasped. "That door is on a computer security lock, keyed only to the DNA of the two of you!"

The warrior didn't pause in the doorway for long. She lunged inside, her target clearly Serenity. And in that instant Endymion charged to intercept her, his tuxedo changed to black armor and his sword drawn. He brought the blade back, then slashed down, seeking to protect his wife by any means.

But the onyx warrior caught Endymion's wrist and momentarily held the slash back. And a change came over Endymion. His body grew lax as he stared in disbelief. Serenity and Luna both looked on, confused, as Endymion's arms slowly fell to his sides. The strange woman reached up, releasing his wrist, and caressed his cheek. Endymion seemed entranced by this stranger. Her fingers moved to his mouth and she delicately pressed her fingertips to his lips.

Then she turned away from him and faced Serenity. Her left arm extended. And Serenity fell backwards over the chair she was in, screaming as if her soul were being ripped from her body. Luna whirled and stared at her sovereign, her tail straight up and her hackles arched. A warp had formed over Serenity's chest and the Silver Crystal was being extracted.

"NO YOU DON'T!" Luna spat and leaped at the interloper, claws out.

She landed on the onyx warrior's face and began slashing with familiar fury. Though the being's skin was black as night, it had the familiar feel and consistency of flesh. Rivulets of red blood sprouted on the black skin and it gave the cat momentary satisfaction to know that these monsters bled red. Serenity's screaming had stopped, which also added to Luna's satisfaction.

A violent shake of the intruder's head sent Luna flying. Gracefully the cat landed on her feet and poised to leap to her monarch's defense again. But the warrior pointed at her and Luna was at once struck with a sudden euphoria that overwhelmed every thought and every fiber of her being. Nothing seemed to matter to her except enjoying the complete rapture she felt. As she lay down on the floor and began purring contentedly, Luna could hear Serenity begin to scream again.

She just couldn't make herself care.

Continued in Chapter 7


	7. For Possession Of The Silver Crystal

Similitude  
Chapter 7: "For Possession Of The Silver Crystal"  
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

The room echoed with the high-pitched shriek from Queen Serenity as the Silver Crystal was forced from within her through an artificially opened warp. An onyx "night warrior" stood mere feet away from her, drawing the crystal to her and away from Serenity. Nearby, Endymion and Luna watched this unfold without moving to assist Serenity, the two in the grip of a deep euphoria that had rendered each one motionless.

Finally the crystal cleared Serenity's chest and the warp closed. The jewel began drifting over to the intruder's outstretched hand.

"Please," Serenity croaked out, her voice hoarse from screaming, "don't do this. Whatever you want, I can help you."

The warrior ignored her.

"I can sense that you're my clone," Serenity continued, too weak to get up off the chair she was sprawled upon. "I can help you! Free you from the control of the one who made you! I can help you live your own life! A free life! A life that belongs to you!"

No response. The crystal inched closer to her.

"I don't know why you want the crystal," Serenity rasped out. "If it's to give it to someone else, please don't! It's too powerful! Only you and I can successfully control it! Please don't do it! It's too important, to you and to everybody!"

When the clone failed to respond to her pleas, Serenity stuck out a shaky hand and tried to reassert control of the Silver Crystal. The jewel stopped and hovered in midair, tugged back and forth between the pull of both women. Silently the struggle continued, the Silver Crystal caught between two opposite but equal forces. After a time, though, Serenity's mental grip on the crystal began to slip as her vitality waned from the trauma of the forced separation. Desperately she struggled to keep the crystal from the dark copy of herself, but the more energy she expended, the less she had to maintain her grip. Finally her ability flagged and the crystal moved toward the clone. A warp opened over her chest and the Silver Crystal slipped inside.

Turning, the clone hastily sped out the door. Serenity vainly reached for her, but she was gone and with her the Silver Crystal. Overcome by fatigue and grief, the Queen collapsed into the chair while Endymion and Luna enjoyed their own private heavens.

* * *

"Space Turbulence!" Sailor Uranus roared.

Amid and around the squad of "night warriors" sparks of energy began exploding, as if the electrons of air molecules were detonating. The energy expenditure began to feed on itself and grow, filling the air with a crackling energy that was more than electricity, almost plasma in consistency. The sizzling, popping energy began to adversely affect the clones. They cringed and flinched from the biting, burning radiation given off by the swirling plasma. Staggering backwards, the onyx clones glanced at each other, then in unison began to retreat toward the outer gate of the palace.

"Hey, we've got them on the run!" Jupiter exclaimed.

"Cut them off!" Neptune ordered, still kneeling from being encased in ice. "Don't let them get away!"

Projecting her Oak Evolution attack, Jupiter set up a barrier between the retreating warriors and the gate. One of the clones turned and threw a fireball at her. Jupiter was able to avoid it, but the barrier was disrupted.

Venus stepped up to use her Rolling Heart Vibration again. Just then, the Neptune clone brought her hands up and mimicked playing a violin. Just as Neptune had earlier, the clone launched an ear-splitting sound wave at the senshi, forcing the three to join Neptune on her knees. As she clapped her hands over her ears, Venus watched the clones pass through the gate and escape. Moments later, the attack died away. With Jupiter and Uranus on her heels, Venus reached the gate. There was no sign of the clones, but Sailor Moon and her senshi were pulling up in a hovercar.

"Where are they?" Sailor Moon shouted, barreling out of the car with Saturn close behind her. Juno set the vehicle down close by.

"We beat them back!" Venus told her. "But they escaped and we didn't see which way they went!"

"I'll see if I can spot them!" Vesta exclaimed. "Fauna Assimilation, Falcon!"

Assuming the form of a falcon, Vesta launched herself into the air and began a circular search pattern.

"Pallas, can you get anything?" Ceres asked her.

Pallas closed her eyes and concentrated. Meanwhile Sailor Moon pulled out her PDA.

"I'm going to link in with Pop's surveillance drones," she told the others. "See if I can spot them!"

"Pretty bold, trying a direct assault," Jupiter said, noticing Uranus had returned to Neptune's side. "I wonder what they were after?"

"I don't know," Venus scowled. She brought up her senshi communicator. "Serenity, you holding up OK?" When she got no response, her features clouded over with worry. It caught Sailor Moon's attention, too. "Serenity?"

"A feint!" Sailor Moon said and charged past Venus and Jupiter for the palace. Jupiter reacted more quickly and was three steps behind the Princess, while Venus trailed her. Meanwhile Pallas opened her eyes and glanced uneasily at Ceres and Juno.

"Pallas heard a thought," Pallas said. "It said 'mission accomplished'."

"Can you tell from where?" Juno asked. Pallas shook her head.

Inside the Royal Chambers, Sailor Moon found her father and Luna staring happily into space and her mother swooned across a chair. Artemis was standing by helplessly, while Diana was trying to shake her mother back to reality. Sailor Moon raced over and knelt by Serenity.

"Mom!" she barked, grasping her mother by the shoulders. "What happened, Mom?"

"Took the Silver Crystal," Serenity whispered weakly.

"Who took it?"

"Clone," Serenity wheezed out.

"Mother!" Diana shouted, violently pushing on the black cat's shoulders. "Mother, snap out of it!" Finally Luna began to regain her wits. At the same time, Endymion began to return to reality. After a few seconds, he realized what was happening and was kneeling next to Sailor Moon, his hand on Serenity's neck.

"Mild shock," Endymion assessed. "Probably from the trauma of being separated from the Crystal." He pulled out his PDA and signaled for a medical team.

"She mentioned a clone? Of her?" Sailor Moon asked.

"Indeed," Luna replied, her voice heavy with guilt. "It would explain how she incapacitated both His Majesty and myself. And how she was able to force the Silver Crystal from Her Majesty's body."

"I didn't think anybody could control the Silver Crystal besides Mom," Sailor Moon said, aghast.

"Up until now, you and Queen Serenity were the only ones," Artemis replied. "But if this being is a genetic clone of Queen Serenity, she can probably contain and control its energies as well."

"That's not good," Venus said. She and Jupiter were standing in the doorway. Just then, the medical team pushed in and eased the Queen onto a transport gurney. Endymion followed them out, leaving the others behind to wonder what to do next.

* * *

Aloft over the city, Sailor Vesta in falcon form searched the streets of Crystal Tokyo while mindful to keep below the flight lanes for city air car traffic. Her keen vision scoured the hovercar traffic below her. The target shouldn't have been difficult to find: A hovercar with five "night warriors" in it. She had even thought to start at the location where the escaping hovercar had disappeared after the assault on Mizuno-Sensei.

However, so far she had come up with nothing concrete. And the longer it took, the more she began to fear that either they had taken a different route, or they had engaged optical camouflage - - or she had just flat missed them. That third possibility began to gnaw at Vesta's confidence. The thought of letting Sailor Moon down was something she didn't want to think about.

"Maybe I'm too high up," Vesta concluded. "I might have missed seeing them because of glare off of the windscreen or something." Vesta shifted in the air and rode a downdraft closer to street level. People pointed at the unheard of sight of a falcon flying through business district traffic. "Man, wish I had Pallas with me. She might be able to pick up their thoughts."

The falcon expertly darted in and out of traffic, a risky proposition with the bird dividing her concentration between her flight pattern and stealing glances into hovercars. A drone closed in on her and observed for a few moments until Vesta passed out of its sector. The drone broke off and returned to its programmed duties.

"Sure, that's it! They had to bust a drone to keep from being seen engaging their opticals!" Vesta realized. "I haven't run across a busted up drone yet, so they have to be running natural!"

And with that, Vesta spotted a hovercar. It didn't have five "night warriors" inside. It only had one. But one was enough. With the vehicle in sight, Vesta gained altitude so as not to risk being spotted, then followed her quarry to its nest.

* * *

Queen Serenity lay on a sensor bunk in the palace infirmary. Endymion was studying her vital sign display, as was Dr. Tsuburaya. Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus and Sailor Jupiter stood back against the walls, along with Luna, Artemis and Diana.

"Vital signs are recovering," Dr. Tsuburaya commented.

"Then why do I feel so weak?" Serenity moaned. Endymion clasped her hand. Just then, the door to the room hissed open. Jupiter and Venus tensed for action, but it was Ami entering sitting in an anti-gravity mobile chair hovering just off of the floor. Rei was behind her, guiding the chair even though the chair had a cybernetic link that allowed the patient to guide it mentally.

"My estimate would be that you're so used to the power you're able to tap through the Silver Crystal," Ami said, gliding up to Serenity's bedside, "that your normal human levels seem weak to you. These vital sign readouts support that hypothesis."

"Good to see you up and around, Ames," Jupiter said, coming over and touching Ami's shoulder. Ami turned her face up to Jupiter and smiled.

"Yes, it is," Serenity beamed. "It's good to see you getting better, Ami-Chan. And how are you doing, Rei-Chan?"

"Ready to get back into action. I just wish I'd gotten better sooner," Rei remarked. "So this was all a plan from the start to get the Silver Crystal?"

"Yes, and the attacks on the two of us were designed to isolate Serenity," Ami nodded.

"So why didn't we get attacked?" Venus demanded. "Don't Jupiter and I rate?"

"Neither of you were likely to discern the plan prior to its execution," Ami explained. "Rei has the potential to predict future events. I have the capacity to ascertain information through sophisticated scanning technology and deductive reasoning. We were the two biggest threats to the plan."

"Obviously a bigger threat than I was," Endymion muttered. Serenity reached out and grabbed his hand. "I failed to protect you."

"If this clone was capable of generating Eternal Sailor Moon-level attacks," Ami consoled him, "I don't think there was much that you could have done."

"It's my fault for losing the crystal to her," Serenity said. "I just wasn't strong enough."

"No one's blaming you, Hon'," Jupiter told her.

"Right now, the important thing is finding where this clone took the crystal and how to get it back from her," Venus proclaimed.

"My team's working on the 'where' right now," Sailor Moon advised them. "We'll find them. And we'll get the crystal back."

"Usa, Honey," Serenity began nervously. "If this clone has the power of the Silver Crystal. . ."

"We're not so bad ourselves, Mom," Sailor Moon walked over. She bent in and kissed her mother on the forehead. "You just conserve your strength. And be ready to come running if I call."

As she straightened up, her eyes met Endymion's.

"A cautious warrior is a wise warrior," he advised her.

"I'll remember," she nodded.

But as she traveled down the corridor to link up with her senshi, Sailor Moon began to truly think about what she was faced with. If they found the clones, they would be facing mirror images of Queen Serenity and the elder senshi - - no easy task.

If they found the clones, which was proving to be no easy task in itself. With that, she spotted Sailor Pallas running up to her. Saturn, Juno and Ceres were right behind her.

"Princess!" Pallas cried. "Vesta found one of the copy people! She told Pallas with her head!"

"Did she say where?" Sailor Moon asked excitedly.

"Yes! Pallas can show you!"

"Then let's go!" Sailor Moon exclaimed. And off they went, into battle.

* * *

The clones arrived back in the garage and parked their vehicles. Following the instructions that were programmed into them, the six beings entered the lab where Dr. Yoshida was waiting for them.

"You were successful?" Dr. Yoshida asked.

"Yes, Dr. Yoshida," the Serenity clone said, her red mouth forming from the blank black of her face. To prove her statement, a warp opened in her chest and the Imperium Silver Crystal floated out.

"Remarkable," Dr. Yoshida gasped softly, examining the crystal intently. The jewel caught light from the overhead fixtures and reflected it onto her face. "How can such a small thing generate such power?"

At a nod, the Serenity clone reabsorbed the crystal into her chest. Yoshida turned to the other senshi clones.

"Were you able to successfully occupy the senshi?" she asked.

"These units were," the Venus clone responded. "These units were unsuccessful in terminating any of the senshi opposing us, but were able to occupy their attention sufficiently. Action was broken off when the signal was given, per instructions."

"How many opposed you?"

"Four confirmed senshi," the Venus clone responded again. "In addition to a squad of nine palace guards, all neutralized without incident."

"Fought to a draw against four senshi," Yoshida scowled. "Not the results I was hoping for. Clearly there is a deficiency somewhere. Perhaps human intuition factors in more than I believed."

The sound of the door leading to the garage opening caught Yoshida's attention. The smallish woman stepped back and gestured her senshi clones toward the door. Entering was Donald Arcudi, her billionaire patron. He was flanked by four young men in dark suits.

"Arcudi-San," Dr. Yoshida said. "I wasn't expecting you this soon."

"I had the utmost confidence in your plan and the abilities of your creations, Doctor," Arcudi smiled benignly. "I knew they would succeed, and I just couldn't wait to claim my prize."

"In good time," Yoshida replied. "The clones didn't quite perform up to anticipated specifications. I'd like to redo the cloning matrix, to see if I can bring them closer to projected performance levels. And we'll have to replace the Jupiter clone altogether."

"It sounds like a worthy goal," Arcudi replied. "I wish you good luck in achieving it."

Yoshida stared at him. "You're implying you're not going to finance my research any further?"

"It really doesn't fall into my long-range plans," Arcudi said, still with the benign expression on his face. "However, I would like to keep the option open. It's possible our plans could change and we would have need of your expertise and your products in the future." He held his hand out. "Now, the Silver Crystal please."

"Didn't you read the thesis?" Yoshida gaped at him. "No one is capable of prolonged contact with the Imperium Silver Crystal except a member of the Royal Line of Silver Millennium! Queen Serenity revealed that in her interview and every shred of evidence I've uncovered supports that! Unless you were just planning to house it in a glass case and stare at it, the thing is too dangerous for anyone else to handle!"

"I don't see the need to raise your voice, Doctor," Arcudi answered. "We can discuss this rationally. I confess I did skim over that part of your proposal. But your concerns are legitimate and I do thank you for voicing them. I take it that the clone of Queen Serenity is holding the jewel?"

"Yes. She's the only safe containment for the Silver Crystal," Yoshida nodded.

"Then if you will be so kind as to turn her over to me, along with any software and instructions on how to control her, we'll conclude our transaction."

Yoshida stared for a moment. The Serenity clone glanced at her, its face inscrutable, but its posture alarmed, which was an unanticipated response from her. And a decision galvanized in Dr. Yoshida.

"No," she replied.

"Dr. Yoshida, that wasn't part of our agreement," Arcudi reminded her calmly.

"I've decided to change our agreement," Yoshida told him. "These clones are valuable, far more valuable than you give them credit for. And the Serenity clone is the most valuable one of all, for she can theoretically control the energies of the Silver Crystal. I understood why you wanted it. But now I realize that I'd be very short-sighted if I gave it to you."

At a subtle nod from Arcudi, the four men behind him produced laser pistols and leveled them at Dr. Yoshida.

"While I do appreciate your position, Doctor," Arcudi said with a calm demeanor that was rapidly becoming irritating, "I'm afraid I must insist."

Continued in Chapter 8


	8. Defend

Similitude  
Chapter 8: "Defend"  
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Sun Zhong-Ju looked up from his desk and found Valeri Brugarov standing in his doorway. The young Russian was clearly anxious and quite out of breath.

"Forgive me, Sun-Sensei," Valeri gasped out. "I need to find Tomoe-Chan!"

"I understand that Tomoe-Chan is on a mission with the Princess in her capacity as Sailor Saturn," Sun replied calmly, motioning the teen in. "Is this important?"

"Yes," Valeri gulped. "Though I now may be too late."

"You had a vision involving Tomoe-Chan?"

Valeri nodded. "She and Princess Sailor Moon were fighting a woman who was all in black."

"I believe they are looking for that very woman," Sun nodded. "Did you see anything else?"

"Yes," Valeri continued, his brow knit in worry. "She lost."

* * *

At a subtle nod from Arcudi, the four men behind him produced laser pistols and leveled them at Dr. Yoshida.

"While I do appreciate your position, Doctor," Arcudi said with a calm demeanor that was rapidly becoming irritating, "I'm afraid I must insist."

Yoshida responded with a single word. "Defend."

A gesture from one of the clones flash froze one of the armed men. Another was immolated. A third was hacked to pieces by energy arcs, while the fourth had a hole burned through his chest by a crimson beam. The process took all of five seconds. Arcudi looked behind him just in time to see the results of the attacks. He turned back to Dr. Yoshida with a look of horror on his face.

"And again I must refuse," Dr. Yoshida said with an undercurrent of irritation.

"Do you know who I am?" Arcudi spat.

"Yes," Dr. Yoshida replied coldly. "That is why I came to you with my proposal. And thanks to your avarice for the Imperium Silver Crystal and the power it can generate, I proved my theories are a success. I've demonstrated that I may be the greatest geneticist in Crystal Tokyo, perhaps even as great as the vaunted Ami Mizuno that everybody speaks of in such awestruck tones all the time. I used you to achieve my goals, just as you attempted to use me to achieve yours. And once you got what you wanted, you were going to cut me off. So I changed the terms and cut you off in order to protect myself." She adjusted her visor. "I realize you're used to getting your way. This is one instance where you won't."

"We'll see, Doctor," Arcudi said, his demeanor growing just as cold. "I'm not one to make an enemy of."

Dr. Yoshida turned to the Venus clone and said, "Eliminate." The clone charged forward and was upon Donald Arcudi before he could retreat. Using superior strength and leverage, she forced the billionaire down to his knees, with one hand around his throat and the other pressed against his chest. A moment later, a golden heart-shaped chain burst out of Arcudi's back between his shoulder blades. The man uttered a strangled gasp of pain and fell over backwards, dead. The Venus clone walked back to the others.

"This mess won't do," Yoshida said, touching the Serenity clone on the shoulder. "Make it go away, please."

The clone stared at her for a moment. Then she turned and gestured at the five bodies. Instantly they evaporated like mist

* * *

Following Sailor Pallas's directions, Juno guided the hovercar containing her Princess and her fellow senshi through the city of Crystal Tokyo. The mood in the vehicle was quiet. Each senshi, except perhaps for Pallas, realized what they might be up against. Ceres, though, felt the need to articulate it, since Dr. Mizuno had warned her not to internalize her fears.

"You know," Ceres began, trying to steady her breathing, "if these - - things - - are really clones of the elders - - well how are we going to go up against them?"

"We have a plan and we work as a team," Sailor Moon answered her. "Remember, just because they're clones of the elders doesn't mean they have all of the elders' experience, just their attacks. And we're not so bad ourselves."

Ceres looked over to her. Sailor Moon was like she was more and more when they went into a conflict: Intense, focused, determined to succeed, to prove her worth, to prove that she deserved the title she held. Ceres, on the other hand, just wanted to stay alive.

"OK," Ceres replied. "So what's the plan?"

"If we get into a confrontation with one of the clones, we hit her with everything we have and overwhelm her," Sailor Moon outlined. "If we encounter all of them, we go defensive - - duck and dodge, and stay close to Saturn so she can protect us with her Silence Wall. Observe who attacks with what. The attack will identify who she's a clone of."

"And then?" Saturn asked.

"Once we know who is who, we attack specific targets," Sailor Moon continued. "Ceres, you take Venus or Uranus. Pallas takes Mercury. Juno takes Mars. Saturn, you've got Neptune. Vesta will take whoever is left." She paused, her mouth thinning. "I'll take on Mom's clone."

"Are you sure you can handle her?" Saturn fretted. "If she has the power of the Silver Crystal . . .?"

"No choice," Sailor Moon frowned. "I'm the only one who can possibly take her. But if any of you can finish your clone quickly, go ahead and help me out. I'll probably need it."

"Princess, Vesta is up there!" Pallas exclaimed. She pointed up and everyone saw a falcon circling overhead. Sailor Moon had Juno stop the vehicle. When they emerged, the falcon landed and instantly transformed into Sailor Vesta.

"It's that building around the corner, in the middle of the block," Vesta reported. "I saw two hovercars go in. One had a single clone in it. The later one had the other five." Sailor Moon nodded as she looked around to get a mental picture of the area and devise the best route of infiltration. "There was one more hovercar went in there, too."

"Another one?" Sailor Moon asked, surprised. "More clones?"

"Nah, this was some businessman type traveling with four guys who had to be hired muscle from their look," Vesta told her. "Bodyguards or enforcers - - I know the type too well."

"Are they still in there?"

"I didn't see them leave," Vesta said. Sailor Moon frowned.

"What do you think it is?" Saturn asked.

"Looked like a buy, if you ask me," Vesta interjected.

"Maybe they're picking up the Silver Crystal," Juno suggested.

"I was thinking that, too," Sailor Moon nodded. "If that's the case, we don't have time to be stealthy. Vesta . . .?"

"Pallas already thought-cast the plan to me," Vesta assured her.

"Then let's go!"

Led by Sailor Vesta, the senshi ran around the corner as people on the street gathered and pointed. In the middle of the block was a metal door to a garage. Vesta pointed to it and the team headed that direction.

"Saturn! Take out the door!" Sailor Moon ordered.

Saturn ran toward the door. When she was just a foot and a half from it, the senshi swung her glaive in a figure eight motion. The severed metal collapsed onto itself, giving the senshi free access to the inner garage. Ahead of them was a door. Sailor Moon directed them toward it. When they were half way to it, "night warriors" began to emerge from the inner room.

"Follow the plan!" Sailor Moon shouted.

Vesta turned into a hummingbird, trying to draw an attack. Juno caused an inner pipe to burst, directing the water at the clones. Ceres and Pallas stayed close to Sailor Saturn, as did Juno. Sailor Moon summoned the Moon Tier and tried to use it on the clones. The clones responded, one firing a golden beam while another launched a fire ball. Saturn's Silence Wall absorbed both attacks, then stopped an ice blast and deflected energy arcs. The attacks from the clones kept Sailor Moon behind Saturn's shield and kept her from aiming the Moon Tier.

But it also served its purpose of identifying which clone was which.

Juno was the first to act, drenching the Mars clone with her water burst. The force was so powerful that it knocked the clone to the floor, snuffing out the flaming bow and arrow she was forming and inundating her until she was choking and gasping for air.

Ceres formed a mutant vine and forced it up through the floor at the feet of the Venus clone. The vine, lent strength by Ceres' power and by the stray water on the floor from Juno, wrapped itself around the startled clone until she was criss-crossed in thin, tensile green and completely helpless. Ceres even went so far as to wrap her vine several times vertically around the clone's head, clamping her jaw shut. The clone wobbled and then toppled to the floor.

Vesta, still in hummingbird form, dove at the Uranus clone, avoiding energy arcs until she was nearly upon her quarry. Changing into a Burmese Python, Vesta coiled her body around the clone and then began constricting. The clone struggled to escape, but lack of oxygen took its toll. When the clone slumped to unconsciousness, Vesta released her. Sailor Moon hadn't ordered her killed, so Vesta showed her adversary mercy.

Pallas countered the Mercury clone's ice by projecting a wall of fire. The clone fell back from it, allowing Pallas to try to mentally put her to sleep. Unexpectedly, the clone resisted the senshi's mental suggestion due to her superior mental capacity, and threw up a thick cloud of mist to obscure Pallas's sight. Panicked by the move, Pallas picked up some of the rent metal of the door and began telekinetically flailing around with it until she hit the clone. Then, copying Vesta, she wound the metal around the clone's body with her telekinesis until the clone was cocooned in metal from the neck down.

Saturn had to use her Silence Wall to stop the Neptune clone's Deep Submerge attack. When it passed, Saturn hit the clone with her Azrael's Slumber attack, hoping to end the confrontation as quickly as possible and aid Sailor Moon. The clone resisted, but couldn't stop Saturn from draining her energy. Finally the onyx warrior slumped to the pavement. Saturn raised her glaive into the air to dispel the energy.

With her senshi engaged and no sign of the Serenity clone, Sailor Moon headed through the door and emerged in the inner room. There she found a small, thin woman in an anti-contamination suit and a vision correction visor. The woman glared at Sailor Moon.

* * *

"Are you sure you can stand? Don't try to do too much!" Rei fretted.

"Rei-Chan, I'm all right now," sighed Serenity. She was off of the sensor bunk and walking gingerly around the infirmary room. Endymion shadowed her, ready to catch her if she stumbled or grew weak. "I'm just - - normal again."

"What do you mean 'again'?" Rei jabbed to try to mask her worry.

"Physically she is fine, Rei," Ami advised her friend. The doctor was still confined to the anti-gravity hover chair and was consulting a hand held medical sensor. "As long as she doesn't try to overexert herself, it's actually good to try to move around."

"Any word from Sailor Moon?" Makoto asked. Endymion produced his PDA and shifted screens.

"Surveillance drones put them in old Koto Prefecture," Endymion informed them all. "Usa must have found a lead. I'm forwarding this to Chief Nakamura and ordering CPD in for support."

"Boy, she works fast," smirked Minako. "How did that girl get so smart?"

"She's always been smart," Serenity said wistfully. "I used to wonder sometimes how someone that smart could possibly be my daughter. Then I remember she's Endymion's daughter, too." Her lower lip began to tremble. "Endymion, if you want to go help her, I'll be all right here."

"I think you need me more than she does right now," Endymion told her.

"But . . ."

"We have to trust that she'll succeed," Endymion said. "We have to give her the benefit of the doubt."

"Yeah, Hon'," Makoto added. "As much as you want to protect them, sometimes you just have to hold back and believe in them."

Suddenly Minako got up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going, Blondie?" Makoto asked.

"Remembered something I have to do," Minako replied as she scooted out the door.

"I'll help you do it," Rei said, suddenly scooting out the door after her.

The four remaining in the room smiled at each other.

"So much for believing in her," Makoto chuckled.

"They do," Ami mused. "But sometimes we find it hard to practice what we preach."

"It's hard not to worry," Serenity sighed. "Especially with that - - person - - in possession of the Silver Crystal."

"Can you really call that thing a person?" Makoto asked.

"I suppose that depends on your definition of the word," Ami said. "Continue, Serenity, you're doing fine. Physically, these clones are human, though advanced human forms just as we are in our senshi forms. I can't know the clones' mental capacity without knowing how much exposure they've had to natural and pre-programmed psychological enculturation. If the capacity for self-determination is your definition of 'person', perhaps they aren't."

"They breathe. They think. They feel," Serenity summarized. "That's all the evidence I've ever needed. That's why I hope we can resolve this without them or anyone getting hurt."

"Serenity, this thing was grown from a cell stolen from you and brought to life," Makoto remarked. "Now it's stolen the Silver Crystal. Who's to say it won't stop until it's stolen your very existence from you? Seeing that clone of me just made my skin crawl. I'm sorry, but I can't feel charity for it or for the person who created it."

"You shouldn't expect charity if you can't give it," Serenity said as she continued to gingerly walk around. And Makoto once more felt humbled by this woman's presence.

* * *

"How dare you invade my private lab!" fumed Dr. Yoshida.

"I've come for the Imperium Silver Crystal," Sailor Moon told her with a commanding tone. She began to cut the distance between them with a calm, purposeful stride. "Where is it? Is the clone of my mother still in possession of it or have you passed it along to your other visitors?"

"My," Yoshida raised an eyebrow. "You seem to know a great deal, Princess Usagi. My clone still has it. But I won't be returning it. I have decided that there are too many amazing things that I can do with its astounding power."

Continuing to approach, Sailor Moon summoned the Moon Tier. When she pointed it at Dr. Yoshida, a "night warrior" stepped between them. This surprised Dr. Yoshida. She hadn't summoned the clone. It had decided on its own to defend her. The clones were capable of learning. It was a remarkable breakthrough.

Instead of pointing the Moon Tier at the clone, Sailor Moon held up her free hand. At first Yoshida thought she was trying to ward off the clone. But the clone began clutching at her chest. To her and Yoshida's surprise, Sailor Moon was mentally pulling the Silver Crystal from the Serenity clone's chest.

The pair struggled for a few moments. For a fleeting moment, a warp formed over the clone's chest and the jewel appeared. Then the Serenity clone slashed desperately at Sailor Moon with her arm. The pink-haired senshi staggered back, struck by an invisible force. The jewel returned to the clone's chest.

"Destroy her!" Yoshida yelled. "Now! While she's staggered!"

The clone pointed at Sailor Moon, seeking to make her vanish as the clone had made Donald Arcudi's body vanish. Then she hesitated. This allowed Sailor Moon to bring up the Moon Tier quickly and project pink energy. The clone intercepted the pink energy with silver energy of her own. Back and forth the energies struggled, seeking advantage and gaining none. Sailor Moon held the power of the stolen silver energy at bay with her own power. But the longer it took, the more she began to feel the strain through her chest. The Silver Crystal was stronger than her pink one. It always had been. In a contest of sheer strength, she was bound to fail.

As she held out, Sailor Moon began to look for a second avenue of attack. If she could find a way to strike from an unexpected ingress, she could use surprise to swing the battle her way. Like she told the others, just because this was a clone of Queen Serenity didn't mean she had Serenity's experience. But nothing suggested itself. It was all she could do to keep from being overwhelmed by the Silver energy she was holding back.

"Azrael's Slumber!" echoed through the room.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sailor Moon saw Saturn between the clone and the person controlling her. Saturn was trying to drain the energy away, leech it into her glaive and neutralize the clone. Though she worried for the safety of her friend, Sailor Moon knew Saturn was her only chance. She could see her own hand shaking as it gripped the Moon Tier.

But the more Saturn tried to drain away, the more the petite senshi began to tremble under the pressure of containing such enormous power. In a desperate gamble, Sailor Moon tried to redirect some of her pink energy into a narrow beam, trying to circumvent the clone's attack and use the pink energy to lull her into a contented stupor. The attempt, though, took her concentration off of holding the Silver energy back. It exploded through her defenses and threw Sailor Moon violently to the floor. She tried to recover, particularly when she heard Saturn scream in pain and saw her collapse to the floor. But there was nothing left. Sailor Moon glanced over to where the clone was, fearing it was her last moment.

Continued in Chapter 9


	9. Who Am I?

SIMILITUDE  
Chapter 9: "Who Am I?"  
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

As Sailor Moon struggled to get up, her chest burning in agony, she heard footsteps approaching her. Glancing up through her pink bangs, Sailor Moon saw Dr. Yoshida about five feet away from her.

"Understand that I have nothing against you," Yoshida said grimly, "unlike that slave to avarice Arcudi. He sought something that wasn't his. You seek to reclaim something that belonged in your family. And you and your mother have been good for this country. But the power - - the things that the Silver Crystal can bring about." Yoshida swallowed. "How does one let go of that? The things I can do with such power . . ."

"It'll," Sailor Moon gurgled out, her pain subsiding, but her body still weak and unresponsive, "be the death of you. . ."

"No," Yoshida replied. "I'm afraid it will be the death of you." Half turning to her Serenity clone, Yoshida said, "Make her disappear."

It was then she saw it. The clone was on one knee, clutching at her chest and head in pain. The scientist was beside her instantly, fearfully examining a hand held monitor and not liking what she saw.

"Come! We must escape! You need to rest and recuperate!" Yoshida told the clone. She pulled on her until the clone rose up and allowed herself to be led away. Sailor Moon started to get up in order to pursue. But the world started spinning and she fell back onto the floor. The urge to vomit was strong in her and she struggled to keep from doing it.

"Usa?" she heard Saturn say, the voice frantic with worry. Sailor Moon tried to concentrate. She felt hands gripping her. Looking up, trying to focus, she saw Saturn leaning over her while the room behind her seemed to move back and forth. Saturn seemed pale and drawn. Forcing a shaky hand up, Sailor Moon clutched Saturn's arm.

"Don't," Sailor Moon gasped out, "heal me."

Ceres and Vesta bounded into the room. When they sighted no enemy, the pair ran over to their fellow senshi.

"Sailor Moon! How are you doing?" Vesta asked. She was in wolf form and her tail was drooped low out of concern.

"Try to find out," Sailor Moon struggled to say, "where they went."

Immediately Vesta began sniffing around the floor. When she locked onto a scent that wasn't the other three, she ran off through a passage left ajar. Juno and Pallas entered almost immediately.

"What happened in here?" Juno asked.

"We tried to take out the clone of Queen Serenity," Saturn told them, her own voice weary. "But she was too much for us. If I hadn't managed to stagger her with a psychic bolt, that woman who created her would have had her kill us."

"You took her down?" Sailor Moon asked, smiling wanly. She gripped Saturn's arm. "Way to go."

"I didn't do it," Saturn frowned. "It just came. I was scared. I wasn't in control of it."

"Hey, it worked," Ceres offered.

"The other clones?" Sailor Moon asked.

"CDP took them into custody," Juno told her. "They've got the entire block surrounded. Maybe they got the others, too."

"Wouldn't bet on it," Vesta said, still in wolf form. "That passage leads to street level on the other side of the block. Once they hit the outside, the trail just ends."

"Did they have a vehicle waiting? We could check the surveillance drones," Ceres suggested.

"Hovercars give off an ozone scent. I didn't get that," Vesta shook her head. "It's like they just vanished."

"If they used the crystal, they probably did," Sailor Moon said. She sat up with some effort.

"Usa, don't push yourself!" Saturn exclaimed.

"Don't worry. I'm getting better. She just knocked me for a loop," Sailor Moon shook her off. "It's weird. It's the same power Mom uses. I could feel it. But Mom's never used it to form solid barriers as offensive weapons. Physically this thing may be Mom's genetic match. But mentally they're two different beings. Way different. And that's what worries me. We've got to stop her before this woman controlling her decides to use her as the ultimate weapon."

"If she hasn't already," grunted Vesta, changing back into a human.

"So how do we do that?" Ceres asked.

Sailor Moon frowned. "I'm still working on that."

* * *

The clone of Serenity lay across a prefabricated storage crate in the basement of a building. Dr. Yoshida didn't know what building. She hadn't gone exploring. Her primary concern at the moment was the health of her greatest creation. Without her primary computer system, she was forced to rely on her handheld diagnostic sensor scanner. The readings weren't good.

The clone was suffering from massive exhaustion, brought about no doubt by her confrontation with Sailor Moon. The fact that she was probably in better shape than Sailor Moon was encouraging. However, something else afflicted the clone. There was gnarling in her right hand and arm that was visible both to the sensor and to her eyes. Additionally the clone had limped badly getting to the table, so much so that Yoshida had to support her. That shouldn't have been a result of the confrontation with Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn. Some other factor was the cause. Yoshida longed for her computer set up so she could determine whether it was a defect in the cloning process or if one of the senshi's attacks had done this.

"Creator," the clone wheezed out, a surprise in itself as they shouldn't be evolved enough to initiate conversation. "This unit feels so weak. Not like before."

Yoshida looked at the motionless clone laying on the container. "You exhausted yourself," she assured the clone finally. "Clearly even the Silver Crystal has limits. Rest. You should recover your strength shortly."

"Why can't this unit move its arm?" the clone asked. Yoshida was puzzled by the clone's growing curiosity.

"You suffered some damage in the confrontation with Sailor Moon," she told the clone. "When you've recovered your strength, you can use the crystal to heal it."

The clone sighed, as if the answer satisfied her. Yoshida stared at her as she lay on the container. Was her mental state evolving past what had been implanted in her?

"Creator," the clone ventured. "Where are the others? The others like me?"

Not "this unit"; "me".

"They were captured," Yoshida replied. The clone seemed to frown, but it was difficult to tell from its onyx, featureless face.

"Are we going to get them back?"

"It's too risky," Yoshida told her, "especially with you disabled. Besides, when they don't receive the necessary injection, their auto-destruct fail-safe will initiate." Yoshida scowled, staring off into the dark. "No one is going to profit from my work but me."

Unseen by Dr. Yoshida, the clone of Serenity looked up at the darkened ceiling. This answer didn't seem as satisfying.

* * *

When Sailor Moon and her senshi arrived back at the palace, they were met by Endymion, who took one look at her and Saturn and ordered them to the infirmary. This was a source of frustration for the Princess, both because she wanted to get started trying to track down the renegade clone and because she would be subjected to her mother's overprotective smothering. Sure enough, she was no sooner in the infirmary than Serenity was upon her.

"Oh my goodness!" Serenity wailed, cupping her daughter's head between her hands. "Look at what happened to you!"

"Down, Mom," Sailor Moon sighed, gently pulling her mother's hands away. "She didn't do anything to me that she didn't do worse to you. I just over-extended myself trying to get the Silver Crystal away from her."

To the side, Haruka and Michiru were in the infirmary, getting updated on Saturn's condition. Unnoticed, they were also surreptitiously listening to the Queen and her daughter.

"I concur," Ami said, hobbling up to them with an electron-stimulator wrapped around her right lower leg and a medical scanner in her hand. "Aside from some bruising and abrasions, she's mostly suffering from exhaustion, Serenity."

"Aunt Ami! Glad to see you up and around!" exclaimed Sailor Moon.

"And just WHY are you up and around and not in bed?" fussed Serenity.

"Walking around is good exercise. It aids in my leg's rehabilitation," Ami replied.

"And should YOU be walking around, Mom?" Sailor Moon asked.

"I'm all right," Serenity replied. "Just 'normal'. Plain old Usagi now."

Ami and Sailor Moon both looked at her with concern. Just then, Rei stuck her head in the door.

"Minako, Makoto and I are going to split up and see if we can get a line on where that clone ran to," she informed them.

"I'll go with you, Aunt Rei!" Sailor Moon volunteered.

"Absolutely not!" Ami said sharply. "You're not ready to go back into potential conflict just yet, and neither is Saturn."

"But Aunt Ami!" howled Sailor Moon.

"It's OK, Princess," Vesta said, popping in behind Rei. "Juno is going to go with Hino-Sensei and I'm going with Kino-Sensei."

"Minako is taking Artemis because she's too insecure to share the spotlight with anyone else," Rei said acidly.

"I HEARD THAT!" came a shout from down the hall. Rei smirked in triumph.

"Ceres and Pallas are going to try to get a line on them from here," Vesta added.

Just then, Yutaka burst into the room past Rei and Vesta. He quickly scanned the room, then flew to Saturn's bunk-side.

"I just heard!" he gasped, clutching her hand.

"I'll be all right," Saturn told him, her cheeks the size of apples from her smile. "I'm sorry if I worried you."

Yutaka responded by bending in and kissing her right in front of everybody. Moments later, loose objects around the sensor bunk began to levitate into the air.

"Well, that's suggestive," Michiru grinned. She turned and placed her hand on Haruka's arm. "Count to ten, Haruka."

"I'm already at eight," Haruka scowled.

* * *

Ceres and Pallas adjourned to their quarters, hoping the familiar environment would help Pallas focus her precognition abilities. As they walked in, Pallas noticed Ceres checked the message light on her computer station.

"If Ceres wants to get back together with Mister Hiroki-Sir, why doesn't she just call him?" Pallas asked.

"I thought you were done peeking into other people's minds," Ceres growled.

"Pallas didn't," the senshi replied innocently. That left Ceres with the prospect of her being so obvious in her feelings that even Pallas could figure it out.

"I'm not contacting him until he apologizes," Ceres scowled.

"Does he know that?"

"Just do whatever it is you do!" Ceres fumed.

Shrugging, Pallas sat on the floor in the midst of her doll collection. Her stare became vacant, which in Ceres' opinion wasn't much different from usual. Ceres watched her and wondered what she was seeing. In a way, she always felt envious of the mental abilities Pallas had. Of course, Pallas paid a terrible price for them. Seemed like nothing in the world was ever free.

"Valeri Brugarov desires entry," announced the environmental control computer. Immediately Pallas tensed, her concentration broken. Ceres went to the door.

"I'm sorry," she told the blond youth at the door, "but this really isn't a good time."

"Forgive me," Valeri replied in his accented Japanese. "Am here to help. You look for clone of Queen, yes?"

"How did you know that?" Ceres asked suspiciously.

"I saw it," he replied. "I saw your fight against the women in black. I saw Sailor Moon defeated. Also saw you and Sailor Pallas just now decide to look for escaped woman in black."

"Just how much can you see?" demanded Ceres.

"Not everything. I see small things easily. Larger things are difficult. But Palla-Palla is precognitive like I, and am thinking together we could see what one can not."

The idea did make sense. Ceres turned to gauge Pallas's reaction. She found her sister senshi awash in heartbreak just from sensing Valeri's presence.

"I'm sorry," Ceres told Valeri. "But - - Pallas works better alone. You'd just mess up her concentration." Valeri looked down. "But if you do see something, tell someone, preferably one of the senshi or the King and Queen."

The door hissed shut on Valeri. Ceres turned and knelt down beside Pallas.

"It's OK," she assured Pallas, stroking her sister's back. "You can do it. Just - - put him out of your mind."

"Pallas will try," she sniffed.

* * *

Dr. Yoshida returned to the basement storage facility to look in on the Serenity clone. While the clone rested and recuperated, Yoshida had gone exploring and found they had landed in the basement of an information storage warehouse. The case the clone rested on kept memory crystals for various businesses away from environmental erosion. There was little chance of being discovered anytime soon. But there was also little chance of securing the computer equipment needed to grow more senshi clones. And the tissue samples and their scans were in her old lab, which was now in CDP hands.

The Serenity clone sat up. "You were correct, Creator," she said, her mouth forming as the inner red was revealed from parting black lips. "I am feeling stronger."

Yoshida took out her handheld scanner and initiated a scan. "Yes, you're close to your old levels," she said.

"But my hand and arm," the clone interjected, bringing up the withered right arm and hand with some difficulty.

"Use the energy of the crystal," Yoshida advised her. "Concentrate on making your right side whole again."

The clone did as she was instructed. Her eyes closed and her breathing fell into a shallow, rhythmic pattern. As Yoshida observed her, the clone began to take on a silvery glow. Consulting her handheld, Yoshida saw that the silver energy was repairing withered nervous system endings, regenerating muscle and ligament tissue, and restoring function to the limbs of her clone's right side. With such an ability in her control, she could bring immortality to anyone she chose.

"That's good," Yoshida said. "You did well. Your control of the Silver Crystal is increasing. Now rest some more. I need you at full strength."

"What are we going to do?" the clone asked innocently.

Yoshida frowned at the curiosity and initiative the clone was beginning to demonstrate. If only she had access to her computers, she could clone a set of override memories and turn this clone back into the suggestible operative Yoshida had intended. She was going to ignore the question, but the clone reached out and grasped her by her upper arm.

"What are we going to do?" the clone asked more insistently.

"Remove your hand," Yoshida replied. The clone complied, but still looked at her expectantly. "When you're strong enough, you're going to make the King and Queen disappear, along with their senshi and the Central Defense and Protection Department."

"Why?" the clone asked.

"Why?" Yoshida repeated with irritation.

"I just wish to understand," the clone said contritely.

Yoshida willed herself calm. "These people are a threat to your existence," she told the clone. "They wish to destroy you and repossess the Silver Crystal from you. By destroying them before they can do this, we will be insuring your continued existence."

"My existence is important to you?" the clone asked her.

"Yes," Yoshida replied from the heart. "You are my crowning achievement. You are the proof of my theories. And you are the conduit through which I can achieve the power and acclaim I have worked for all my life. You're the path that will allow me to eclipse Ami Mizuno and be proclaimed the greatest geneticist in the history of the world. You must survive - - even if it means killing a hundred thousand people or more!"

The clone processed this. She nodded when she seemed satisfied by the response.

"Now lay back and conserve your energy," Yoshida advised her. "This won't be an easy task, so you'll need all of your strength."

With the clone resting, Yoshida began to pace. She needed to get some sort of sophisticated computer system, one far more advanced than her handheld or the crystal readers in the storage facility. But with the CDP and the senshi looking for her, she didn't dare venture out until night. It might come down to eliminating opposition first and then cloning a memory string to reassert full control over the clone. That was a gamble. The clone's emotional sense of self was evolving rapidly.

But it was a gamble she would just have to take.

Continued in Chapter 10


	10. Preemptive Strike

SIMILITUDE  
Chapter 10: "Preemptive Strike"  
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

* * *

By Bill K.

"Has your link-up been established, Dr. Mizuno?" the investigative lab technician at the Civilian Defense and Protection main headquarters asked over a real-time visual link with the Crystal Palace.

"Yes, your telemetry is coming through clearly," Ami responded from her infirmary room. Unable to sit still and recover, but mindful that she couldn't leave the infirmary, she had contacted CDP headquarters and arranged for a visual link of the biological scans of the captured senshi clones. "Please start the scan."

"Yes, Doctor," the technician said. "We're just waiting for authorization from the Director of Bio-Crimes . . ."

"These subjects have the possibility of self-destructing and we're as yet uncertain of how soon the trigger is initiated," Ami informed him. "Logically, that makes time of the essence. Please begin under my personal authority as Chief Physician of Crystal Tokyo and one of the King and Queen's personal advisors. I'll take full responsibility."

As the scan initiated, Ami began studying the information it found. The subject they were scanning was, ironically enough, the clone of her Sailor Mercury form. Mizuno's legendary powers of concentration focused on the data being transmitted by the scans, compartmentalizing the unpleasant memories this clone brought back, that of a chilling battle with her old nemesis, Viluy.

"Scans show humanoid female tissue," the technician responded. "Bone structure, muscle tone and endocrinology all off the charts."

"Forgive me, but I'm going to take over your computer function remotely," Ami said suddenly, impatient with the progress of the scan. The focus narrowed to a microscopic level. "Yes, I thought as much. These aren't exact clones."

"Well I would think the skin color and lack of hair would tell you that."

"Yes, but the differences are much more than mere cosmetic," Ami continued. "See this strand here?" and she highlighted a section of the DNA scan on the screen. "There are differences in the DNA, possibly engineered and possibly process defects. As yet, I'm not certain what that abnormal strand controls. I would suggest this scan be turned over to a qualified geneticist. My recommendation would be Dr. Kurosawa."

"I'll stream him a copy," the technician replied.

"Are you continuing with the other scans?" Ami asked. The technician nodded. "Good. The more information we have, the less likely we are to overlook something. Moving on to the next abnormal strand."

"What's going on here?' demanded Kimi Mitsusaki, CDP's Director of Bio-Crimes. The Japanese woman, fifty-two and very petite, but in possession of a withering stare, focused that stare on the poor technician. "Who authorized this scan?"

"I did," Ami replied while she studied the scan of another DNA string. "Remarkable work. Send this scan to Dr. Kurosawa too, please." She pulled up another scan while dividing her attention between it and Mitsusaki. "Has the person behind this been identified yet, Director?"

"DNA residue implicates a Dr. Ran Yoshida, until three years ago employed by Moroboshi Corporation," Mitsusaki replied, unwilling to conceal her irritation.

"I've some familiarity with her work. She always did show a great deal of promise," Ami said distantly. "Director Mitsusaki, I apologize for rushing things along. I just felt that it was dangerous to wait."

"I don't see why," Mitsusaki grumbled. "There are procedures, Dr. Mizuno, that even the palace staff need to follow."

Just then an alarm claxon began to sound. Checking the telemetry, both Ami and the technician saw that the subject was heating up very quickly. Ami began hitting studs on her computer console, but the clone exploded in flame. Immediately fire retardant foam sprayed out from the ceiling, filling the quarantine examination room and snuffing out the fire. When the foam was evacuated from the chamber, though, all that remained was a charred husk that was once alive.

"Phosphorous," Ami muttered. "Nothing else burns that hot or that quickly. Director Mitsusaki, I recommend you place the other subjects in vacuum stasis, with breathing apparatus of course. Phosphorous can't ignite without a source of oxygen."

Mitsusaki consulted her PDA. "You're too late. All the other prisoners ignited at the same moment this one did."

Ami exhaled in frustration

* * *

Dr. Yoshida pecked away at her handheld sensor scanner, hoping to get her simplified program to run. She'd taken to cannibalizing one of the readers and some of the memory crystals stored in the facility in hopes of boosting the handheld's capacity enough to get a cloned memory patch for the Serenity clone. The unwieldy network of memory crystals slowed processing speed down to a crawl, but if the patch could be generated without the program locking up . . .

"Damn," groused Yoshida.

The handheld had locked up. Nothing to do now except reboot. While it did that, Yoshida went into the next room to get more memory crystals. There she found the Serenity clone sitting on a container, her hands cupped around something glowing silver. At first she thought the clone had the Silver Crystal out and was gazing at it. It was when she was right up to the clone that Yoshida saw something that shocked her: Cupped in the clone's hands was a tiny black embryo.

"What is that?" Yoshida demanded. The clone turned to her, startled by the woman's tone. "Did you create that?"

"Yes, Creator," the clone responded.

"Are you insane? Do you realize how much energy you have to be expending in order to have created and accelerated growth to this point? Stop at once!"

"But, Creator," the clone began timidly, "I merely longed for another - - like me. The others who were like me - - they ceased. I felt it."

"Yes, it was too long since the fail-safe counter-agent was injected," Yoshida replied. "No matter. You're still here." She pushed her hand into her pocket. "That reminds me, it's time for your injection."

"I want," the clone continued, "someone like me. There is no one else like me now. You are not like me. Our skin is different. Our hair is different. And there are other differences between us. I - - sense things - - that I do not think you can sense. I am alone. I am the only one of my kind. I wished for there to be another. Is that wrong?"

Yoshida's jaw tightened. "It is a matter of priorities," she told the clone. "You must conserve your energy and only use it to eradicate those who wish to destroy you. By expending the considerable amount of energy necessary to create and foster life, even clone life, you risk a recurrence of the physical stresses you underwent before and you leave us both vulnerable to those who oppose us." She closed her hand over the hands cupped around the embryo. "This must wait until we are safe from those who oppose us."

"Yes, Creator," the clone said. She was clearly disappointed.

"Now destroy it please."

"But - - why?"

"We don't have the facilities to keep the embryo alive," Yoshida reasoned, "and you can't expend anymore energy doing so. It's best this way."

The clone looked at the floor for a few moments. Yoshida wondered if she would rebel. Then the clone's hands flashed silver.

"It is done," the clone whispered.

"Very good. Now you must rest," Yoshida nodded. "Out of curiosity, were you able to use the crystal to just build and assemble DNA strands on your own?"

"No, Creator," the clone replied. "I took a human sample and caused it to grow into one like me, just as you created me from the other."

"Whose sample?" Yoshida asked.

"Yours," the clone replied.

"Mine? Who gave you permission to use my DNA?" demanded Yoshida.

The clone pondered this. "Was permission needed? You did not get permission to use the DNA that created me."

Yoshida didn't respond. The clone had a point, which in itself was disconcerting.

"I need to give you your injection," Yoshida said thinly.

"I removed the phosphorous fail-safe from my chest," the clone responded innocently. "I did not feel it was a necessary component of my body."

A chill ran up Yoshida's spine. She hurried off to check on the reboot of her handheld.

* * *

Sailor Ceres sat in the chair in front of her computer station, but she was watching Sailor Pallas rather than her computer. That and trying not to feel useless. She had manufactured several dozen plant humanoids that were now helping to canvas Crystal Tokyo in hopes of finding Dr. Yoshida and her clone warrior. Beyond that, her mission was to support Pallas while she tried to summon a vision.

While they didn't always come on demand, Pallas had an uncanny gift for summoning precognitive visions when the need was critical. The longer it took, though, the more Ceres began to wonder if it would ever come. She could guess why. Pallas was still in some emotional turmoil over her one-sided infatuation with the new student, Valeri Brugarov. Ceres had tried to get her sister's mind off of him, but she knew from experience that it wasn't an easy task.

"Maybe Ceres should call Mr. Hideki-Sir," Pallas said suddenly. Ceres scowled, but refrained from admonishing Pallas about eavesdropping on her thoughts. Pallas may have just picked up the thought while mentally sweeping Tokyo. "Yes, Ceres, Pallas did."

"Stop that," Ceres raised an eyebrow.

"Is Ceres mad because she's afraid Mr. Hideki-Sir was playing Mommy and Daddy with the naked lady?"

Ceres sighed. "I guess."

"What if he wasn't?"

"He still doesn't have any business being alone in his studio with a naked woman who ISN'T ME!" Ceres snapped. "Who knows what might have happened if I hadn't walked in."

"Doesn't he love you?"

"I think so," Ceres frowned. "I mean, he doesn't say it. But he doesn't use the word a lot. He expresses himself with his art and his actions, not words. Hideki is one of those types who enjoys what he likes and shuns what he doesn't. And he doesn't shun me, so he must like me. But just because he might love me doesn't mean he," and Ceres looked down, "well, won't enjoy someone else. And if he is just 'enjoying' me - - where does that leave me?"

"Pallas wishes she was smarter," Pallas said softly, "so she'd know what to say to Ceres."

"I'm not sure anybody's that smart, Pallas," Ceres sighed.

With that, Ceres noticed that Pallas had a glazed look suddenly. An all-too-familiar glazed look. Absently Pallas reached down and picked up two of her dolls. One was a mermaid, while the other one was a fashion doll with short blonde hair. Pallas began to mime that the two dolls were walking side by side.

"Do you see the copy lady yet?" Pallas said, wagging the blonde fashion doll while speaking in a low, husky voice.

"No. All I can see is how very pretty I am," Pallas answered herself, this time in a higher voice as she wiggled the mermaid doll. "Maybe my mirror can't see the copy lady because she has The Queen's jewel."

"Don't give up," Pallas said in the husky voice. "You're pretty and smart and my love for you makes me believe in you. You'll find her."

Pallas made the two dolls kiss.

"You know what we have to do when we find the copy lady," Pallas said in the high voice.

"We have to kill her and make her dead," Pallas replied in the lower voice. "Because The Queen is too good and kind to do it and it's the only way to get her jewel back." Pallas continued to mimic the dolls walking.

"I see her!" Pallas exclaimed in the high voice. "I see the copy lady! I know where she is!" Pallas mimicked the dolls' pace increasing, as if they were running.

"So how do we make her dead?" Pallas asked in the lower voice.

"Whatever it takes," Pallas answered, once more in the higher voice.

"Oh boy," Ceres exhaled apprehensively and engaged her communicator.

* * *

Paranoia permeating her every thought, Dr. Yoshida eased out of the access door leading to the crystal storage unit below ground level and furtively looked around. There was still light in the afternoon sky and emerging from hiding was a tremendous risk. She pressed back into the doorway as a CDP observation drone passed overhead. They, of course, were a threat to her day or night, for their night vision optical array could see her no matter what time of the day or night. But in the day, she risked being spotted by human eyes as well. She didn't have access to optical camouflage and she was no doubt being pursued by both CDP and the Queen's senshi.

And she couldn't safely rely on the Serenity clone. The clone was evolving too rapidly to trust in it still obeying her commands. What if she refused a command? What if she decided that, with the crystal in her possession, that Dr. Yoshida was suddenly a redundancy to be abandoned or even eliminated? The risk had to be taken. Yoshida couldn't afford to wait any longer. New artificial memories had to be cloned and introduced into the clone's mind while there theoretically was still time.

Hugging the side of the building, Yoshida made her way to one of the public computer station hubs that dotted Crystal Tokyo. Her actions were highly suspicious and attracted the attention of most of the people who passed her on the street. Yoshida didn't care. As long as she didn't run into a CDP officer or a senshi, the public could stare all they wanted. Her only goal was to get to a computer powerful enough to produce an artificial memory plug-in for the clone's current brain.

That and not get caught.

Hurriedly Yoshida entered the hub and sat down at the nearest empty station. She began pressing studs on the control panel and the monitor lit up with command strings. It would be longer work than normal, since she was recreating the artificial memory process from her own memories of how she did it. Without the initial template to work from, she would have to slow down some in order to make certain she didn't make a mistake. There was no telling what havoc could come about from a memory implant with a faulty command string. Trying to will herself calm, Yoshida kept working, her focus solely on the monitor before her.

The memory was eighty percent done. That's when she felt the hand on her shoulder.

"Don't resist," warned the voice of Sailor Mars, behind Yoshida and to her right.

Yoshida thought for a second, then shoved her shoulder into Mars, sending the senshi staggering back. Bolting from her chair, Yoshida ran for the door, only to find Sailor Juno blocking it.

"Aqua Initiation!" Juno shouted.

Water streamed from the spout of the room's water station, striking Yoshida in the waist with the force of a hammer. The geneticist staggered back and flopped to the floor. Two CDP officers jumped on her and put her in magnetic restraints. Wrestled into a sitting position, Yoshida looked up venomously. She found Sailor Mars kneeling down next to her.

"Where is the clone?" Mars asked, her violet eyes seeming to look into Yoshida's very soul.

* * *

"She's in there?" Sailor Uranus asked. She had been following Sailor Neptune, pacing herself to stay behind the senshi, as Neptune followed the lead of the Deep Aqua Mirror. Neptune had come to a stop across the street from the records warehouse where Dr. Yoshida had been hiding with the Serenity clone.

"Yes," Neptune replied, partially distracted by what she saw in the mirror. "At the moment, she's alone. This may be our best opportunity to strike."

"Strike how?" Uranus asked. "If she's got Serenity's power, she's not going to be easy to bring down. And without Serenity's conscience limiting her power, there's no telling what she's capable of."

"Precisely why we have to destroy her instead of just capture her," Neptune reiterated. "A being running amok in Crystal Tokyo with Serenity's level of power has always been my nightmare scenario. We have to end it now, while we can."

"I'm all for it. But we probably can't get close enough to get in a good shot. I don't know what to do, other than drop the building on her."

Inspiration made Neptune smile. "I knew there was a reason I liked you," she said as she passed her hand over the face of the Deep Aqua Mirror. Neptune studied the mirror for a few seconds. "Yes, the building is unoccupied. Primarily a robotic maintenance crew. It probably gets visited by a human maintenance tech on regular intervals or if an alarm goes off." Neptune put her hand on Uranus's upper arm. "Direct your Space Turbulence attack at the foundation. That'll get the structure vibrating enough so that my Submarine Violin Tide can hit the sympathetic harmonic."

"You always did want to bring down the house," Uranus quipped as she produced the Space Sword, gallows humor to mask the fact that they were willingly executing a living being. "Space Turbulence!"

To the astonishment of people on the street, an energy blast came from the sword, shot across the street and struck the building opposite the two senshi. A low rumble began to emanate from it. The building could be seen to shake, low quivering at first but building up to a massive, violent quaking in seconds. Taking her cue, Sailor Neptune placed her hands in position. A golden violin appeared from nowhere.

"Submarine Violin Tide!" she shouted, drawing a golden bow across the strings.

The sound started low at first, like the rush of the tide. Seconds later, the sound climbed to a shrill screech, passing across the street and striking the shaking building. Moments after the sonic wave hit, the building collapsed onto itself, gravity driving four stories of steel, fiberglass and plasticell into the basement foundation. A gigantic dust cloud blew up from the rubble as observation drones closed in to access and report on the incident. As the on-lookers whispered among themselves, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune stood and watched silently, grimly making certain their job had been successfully accomplished.

"I think we got her," Uranus said at last. "I hope the Silver Crystal automatically returns to Serenity once this clone is dead. It's going to be a job digging her out otherwise."

Then a gasp rose up from the watching citizens. Like a wraith, a woman passed up through the remains of the building. Her head was clean of hair and her skin was onyx, with two blue orbs for eyes. The eyes scanned the crowd, then locked on Uranus and Neptune.

The two senshi crouched, ready for action.

Continued in Chapter 11


	11. A Fight For Survival

SIMILITUDE  
Chapter 11: "A Fight For Survival"  
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Queen Serenity walked into the infirmary room. Sailor Moon noted it immediately: Her mother walked, rather than glided, into the room. One more clue to her current state of reduced power.

Serenity noted something as well: Her daughter was out of bed and preparing to leave.

"Honey," Serenity began with some concern. "Did Ami-Chan say you could leave?"

"Didn't ask," Sailor Moon replied. She slid past her mother and out the door. Serenity followed her into the next room, where Saturn had been recovering. Saturn was up and preparing to leave as well.

"I don't think this is a good idea, Honey," Serenity interjected, grasping her daughter's arm. Sailor Moon turned to face her, pink trails of hair wafting behind her. "Not until . . ."

"There's no more time for us to sit around and get well," she told her mother. "Pallas got a premonition. Uranus and Neptune are taking on your clone by themselves."

"And they're probably going to 'shoot to kill'," Serenity sighed, her gaze seeking the floor. "I suppose in their minds they think it's the only way."

"Maybe it is," Sailor Moon replied. For her opinion, she got a pained expression from her mother that cut her to the quick. "Mom, that clone has control of the Silver Crystal. The only reason we're all not either dead or slaves to that clone is because she probably hasn't thought of doing it yet."

"Or she doesn't have the heart," suggested Serenity. "She is a copy of me, after all. It's not something I would think of doing."

"PHYSICALLY she's a copy of you, Mom," Sailor Moon corrected her. Then she pointed to her head. "Up here she's a blank slate and whoever programs her mental state can make her be anything they want. Memories don't transfer with genetic coding."

"If you say so. You'd know more about it than I would," Serenity said. "But I like to think kindness isn't just a purely mental reaction. That some of it comes from the heart, too."

"Not something we can chance right now," Sailor Moon replied. "Particularly with Uranus and Neptune potentially in harm's way. Because if they find her and take their kill shot and don't kill her," and she looked her mother square in the eye, "they're going to have more trouble than they can possibly handle."

"Sailor Moon, we need to go!" Saturn urged.

"You're right," Serenity nodded. "We need to help them. I'm coming with you."

"I'm not arguing," her daughter said. "Individually, neither one of us could pull the crystal away from her. Maybe together we can."

The three headed for the lift. As they passed the nurse's station, the duty nurse looked up.

"Wait! You can't leave!" she called out. Serenity turned and put a finger to her lips.

"It's all right," the Queen said. "Tell Ami-Chan we'll be careful."

* * *

Dr. Yoshida stared into the violet eyes of Sailor Mars. Juno looked on, the hackles rising up on her neck. It was never easy working with Mars-Sensei, especially when Juno and the others were beginning training as Sailor Senshi. Ceres was always so guarded around her. Vesta was always suspicious of her, more than with anyone else. It was like being around Pallas, knowing that your every stray thought might be seen by her. But it was worse, because Pallas was family and the worst she might do was use the information she read to tease or prank. Mars held a position of authority over them. Though Venus was the "enforcer", Mars was always the "long arm of the law". Seeing the growing nervousness of Dr. Yoshida, Juno felt a sudden sympathy with the woman.

Answering a signal from her communicator, Juno engaged it and found Ceres on the line. As she spoke, Mars suddenly broke her connection with Yoshida and waved over a pair of CDP officers.

"Take her into custody," Mars told them, handing her over. "The charges are unauthorized human experimentation, unauthorized entry into the Crystal Palace, and murder."

"Murder?" Juno exclaimed, looking up from her communicator.

"She had her clone warriors kill five foreign nationals from the United States of North America on Japanese soil," Mars informed them.

"I suggest you let me go," Yoshida growled. "I'm the only one with any possibility of controlling that clone! Do any of you honestly think you can stop something with the power of Queen Serenity?"

Mars gave her an icy look. "Take her away," she told the officers. While the officers hustled Yoshida out to their transport, Juno came up.

"That was Ceres. Apparently Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune are about to confront the clone if they haven't already."

"We'd better back them up," Mars replied, headed for the door. "Come on! I know where!"

* * *

Like a wraith, a woman passed up through the remains of the building. Her head was clean of hair and her skin was onyx, with two blue orbs for eyes. The eyes scanned the crowd, then locked on Uranus and Neptune.

The two senshi crouched, ready for action.

"You," the clone said, pointing at the two senshi. "You tried to destroy me. Why?"

"You have something that belongs to Queen Serenity," Neptune tried to bluff, taking on an authoritative manner. "Surrender it and we'll let you live."

"No," the clone replied, almost like a child who has just discovered the word. "No, it's mine!"

"Space Sword Blaster!" Uranus called out, firing energy arcs from her weapon.

The arcs met an invisible wall thrown up before the clone and harmlessly dissipated. In response, the clone fired energy arcs back, mimicking Uranus, only these were more powerful. But the trained senshi were no longer there. Moving in opposite directions, their plan was for one to draw fire while the other flanked the target and attacked from behind. The clone's gaze tracked Uranus as she moved.

"Submarine Reflection!" Neptune shouted.

A crimson energy beam lanced out from the face of the Deep Aqua Mirror. It struck the clone between the shoulder blades and the figure bowed with the blow. But moments later, the clone turned wraith-like again and the energy passed harmlessly through her. The two senshi stopped firing, but remained on opposite sides of the clone, flanking her. Neptune exchanged a few hand signals with Uranus.

"You can't touch me when I'm like this!" the clone shouted triumphantly.

"But you can't attack us in that form, either!" Neptune shouted back.

As anticipated, the clone materialized in order to launch an attack at Neptune. In concert, Uranus raised her sword while Neptune materialized her golden violin.

"Space Turbulence!" commanded Uranus.

"Submarine Violin Tide!" demanded Neptune.

The attacks struck the clone simultaneously. The creature recoiled, struggling mightily to repel the twin harmonic energies as they battered and buffeted her. Keeping up the pressure, the two outer senshi poured all they had into the attack. As more energy was drawn out of them, each one could feel herself weakening. But there was no quit in them. This had to work. Each one knew the possible fate they would suffer if they failed to dispatch this clone.

As they continued to fire, the embattled clone began to drift down to the ground, coming to rest on the rubble of the building. After a long time, Uranus and Neptune finally felt their attacks giving out. When the energy died away, they stood and watched the clone for signs of life. The onyx form was draped over a broken piece of building. For a moment, they hoped. But quickly she began to stir. The crowd noticed the two senshi sag. The senshi knew, and the crowd began to suspect, that the pair had nothing left to throw at the clone. Rising to shaky feet, the clone faced them with stooped shoulders.

"STOP IT!," the clone howled, blue eyes blazing. "STOP TRYING TO DESTROY ME! I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING TO YOU!"

"Get ready to move, Neptune," Uranus hissed.

Neptune glanced over at her partner and saw Uranus locked on the clone. It occurred to her that Uranus was trying to capture the clone's attention, to draw her fire in order to protect Neptune. And suddenly that thought, of Uranus being annihilated so that she could live, was the most horrific thought she could conceive of in a thousand years of seeing some fairly horrific things.

"Neptune!" Uranus gasped as Neptune lunged forward and clamped onto her arm.

"We both move," Neptune said in a low rumble, her eyes locked on the clone, "or we both die together."

"Auric Bomb Burst!" rang out through the buildings of the city section. The rubble at the feet of the Serenity clone exploded in a burst of kinetic energy and a shower of golden light. Tossed into the air by the force of the explosion, the clone was flung backwards and landed awkwardly on the rubble of the building. Risking a glance away from their adversary, Uranus and Neptune saw Sailor Venus and Artemis running up to them.

"Nice save," Uranus nodded to her.

"Haven't missed a cue yet," Venus nodded, grinning confidently.

"How did you find us?" Neptune asked.

"Pallas had a premonition about your little solo act," Venus informed them. "The minute I heard, I had Fuzzy here trace your communicators. You know, just in case you two bit off more than you could handle - - not that you've EVER done that before." She grinned cynically.

"Point taken," Neptune nodded diplomatically. "And your assistance was quite timely."

"Hey, she's getting up!" Uranus alerted them. The two senshi looked to where Uranus was pointing and found the clone struggling to get up. "If we're going to take her out, we have to do it now while she's on the ropes!"

"Do you have anything left, Uranus?" Neptune asked warily. "I'm still at low ebb." Her partner's non-response was all the response she needed. "Venus, are you up to this?"

"Um," Venus hesitated.

"That clone is too powerful to let live," Neptune pressed her.

"Yeah," Venus responded, "but - - executioner really isn't my thing, you know?"

"I'll do it," scowled Uranus. She summoned the Space Sword. "The sword still has an edge to it."

"Uranus?" Neptune called out anxiously, knowing Uranus would have to get dangerously close to the clone to use the Space Sword on her. The senshi kept walking.

"Why?" the clone gasped out. It was clear to everyone that the attacks had taken their toll. "Why do you want . . . my life?"

"You're a danger," Uranus said, her pace unrelenting and her path to the clone straight and true. "As long as you have that crystal, you're a danger to everyone."

"No!" the clone howled. "The Creator! She made us kill! I only wish to live! To be with others of my kind!"

"Then surrender the Crystal," Uranus told her, still approaching. "Do it or I'll kill you and carve it out of you!"

"The Crystal is my only hope! My only protection!" the clone protested. "It made me what I am! I can achieve my every wish with its power! You can't take it from me!"

"It's not yours," Uranus replied. She was mere feet from the clone.

"It is mine!" cried the clone. "I am made from her! I am like her! The Crystal knows this! It sings to me! I hear its song!"

Uranus raised her sword. The clone cringed away from it, swiping at Uranus with her hand. Then an invisible force struck Uranus and sent her hurling backwards across the street. The senshi landed and skidded to a stop just yards from Venus and Neptune. Neptune raced over to her fallen partner.

"Uranus, how bad is it?" Neptune asked as she checked her mate for obvious wounds.

"Forget me," Uranus grimaced in obvious pain. "Don't let her get away!"

"Burning Mandala!" everyone heard Mars shout.

The sacred mandala symbols sprang up around the clone, crackling with fire that leaped high into the air. Afraid, the clone fell back and sank to the jagged rubble beneath her. From a side street, Sailor Mars appeared, with Sailor Juno behind her. Mars had her hands out, pouring her senshi energy and her spiritual energy into the attack, determined to keep the clone at bay and trapped until she could be separated from the Silver Crystal.

It was a futile effort, though, something Mars sensed immediately. She could feel the overwhelming energy of the Silver Crystal. She couldn't defeat it. That she knew. The best she could do was wear the clone out, press her to her limits in hopes that someone else could take her out. As the mandala burned around the clone, Mars saw her focus inward the way Serenity would often do. The clone was drawing on the energy of the Crystal.

As Mars expected, the clone rose to her feet and walked through the Burning Mandala as if it were an illusion. The mystic flames couldn't touch her. Mars readied another attack, but she didn't think it would do any better.

"Let me try!" Juno stepped forward. "Vortex Instigation!"

From out of the rubble of the destroyed records building, water began to spray up from the ruptured underground conveyance system. The water began swirling around the startled clone, growing larger as it spun and spinning faster as it grew. The onyx figure planted itself against the force of the gigantic water spout, resisting the tugging of the spinning air and water. Around her fragments of the building broke off and rose up into the vortex, the fragments breaking apart into smaller pieces by the force of the phenomenon.

But the clone gathered her arms in and then shot them out from her sides. A force generated by the Silver Crystal caused the vortex to explode outward. Away from the spin of the vortex, the water crashed to the ground harmlessly. Within moments, the vortex had been dissipated.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" the clone shouted angrily. "Stop trying to destroy me! Or I'll make you all go away! I'll do it!"

Artemis glanced uneasily at Sailor Venus. "Venus?" he prodded.

"Yeah, I hear her," Venus scowled. "Auric Bomb Burst!"

The ground exploded around the clone once again, thrusting her up into the air like a doll tossed into the sky. But this time the doll recovered more quickly than before. Righting herself in mid air, the clone brought her hands up and pointed them at Sailor Venus. Venus crouched to move, hoping she wouldn't react too late.

"Mars!" the call rang out. "Flame Sniper!"

The clone turned just in time to take a flaming arrow in the chest. The impact flung her backwards and she plummeted thirty feet before she was able to catch herself. Clutching the flaming arrow with both hands, the onyx humanoid concentrated. The arrow faded into nothing.

Then a shadow passed over everyone. Mars and Juno looked up in time to see a gigantic mythical dragon above the clone. It swooped in and slashed at the clone with its wing, the impact sending the clone hurling to the ground. She impacted with the rubble of the building, sending loose rubble flying away.

"Vesta, is that you?" Juno shouted up to the dragon.

"Got here as soon as I could!" the dragon shouted back. "She's trying to get up! I'm going in again!"

"Don't get too close! She's still got the Silver Crystal! She can destroy you with a thought if she gets you in her sights!"

Swooping down, the dragon clutched some of the broken building in the talons of her feet. Gaining altitude, the dragon swooped around and flung the jagged stone at the clone below. Only with great effort did the clone deflect the missile before it struck her.

"Get clear, Vesta!" Sailor Jupiter shouted, now next to Mars and Juno. When Vesta veered off, Jupiter raised her hands. "Jupiter Coconut Cyclone!"

The winds picked up. Ominous dark clouds began to form over the clone. Still struggling to get up, the clone looked up at the darkening skies. She seemed mesmerized by the gathering elemental fury above her.

A bolt of lightning lanced down from the clouds, followed by a clap of thunder that shook the area and rumbled through the streets of Crystal Tokyo. At the last possible moment, the clone managed to use the power of the Silver Crystal to deflect the bolt. But the force of the strike threw her back onto the jagged pile of rubble. Dazed by the force of the blow, the clone looked out at the gathered senshi.

"Why are you doing this?" she wailed. "Why do you hate me?"

"Give back the Silver Crystal!" Neptune demanded. "This ends when you give back the Silver Crystal!"

Everyone could feel Jupiter's storm building to another lightning strike. The wind savaged everyone. Dust and debris were spinning up into the atmosphere. Windows rattled. The dark cloud cover was so thick that it almost seemed like night. The clone looked from Venus to Neptune, then to Uranus, then to Jupiter, Mars and Juno.

And disappeared from their view.

"She's gone!" Venus shouted, then got on her communicator to coordinate with the CDP and the city's surveillance drones to see if one could spot her. Neptune and Uranus joined up with Mars, Jupiter and Juno.

"Did you happen to get any insight on where she's going, Mars?" Neptune asked.

"Not where," Mars replied. "But I did get some insight into her current mental state. It was like looking at a little child. She's terrified more than anything - - in over her head."

"Doesn't make her any less dangerous," Uranus judged.

"No, if anything it makes her more dangerous," Neptune added, "because she's desperate. If her thinking process is juvenile, like Mars said, she'd probably seek out some place where she always felt safe."

"Is there a place like that?" Juno asked. "She's a clone with programmed memories. What would be a safe haven for someone like that?"

"Unless she just told the crystal to take her someplace safe," Jupiter reasoned. "But where would the crystal think was a safe haven?"

"Serenity!" gasped Mars.

Continued in Chapter 12


	12. New Life For Old

SIMILITUDE  
Chapter 12: "New Life For Old"  
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Serenity, Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn raced out of the lift and into the lobby of the great Palace of Crystal Tokyo. And suddenly, the clone was directly in front of them.

"You!" gasped Queen Serenity, uncertain of the clone's intent. Saturn started forward, seeking to protect the Queen. But Sailor Moon stuck her hand out.

"Your hand, Saturn!" she demanded, gesturing with her open hand as she materialized the Moon Tier in the other.

Taking her meaning, Saturn grasped Sailor Moon's hand. Instantly their energies merged. Sailor Moon pointed her Moon Tier.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!" she called out.

Pink tendrils laced with violet shot out from the Moon Tier and leaped at the clone like hungry vipers. They coiled around the onyx figure, holding her tightly in their grip. The clone struggled initially out of fear, but as the restraints began to work their magic on her, she sank to her knees before Queen Serenity. Serenity's hand went to her mouth as Saturn and Sailor Moon looked on warily. The clone didn't escape, but it was unclear whether she couldn't or no longer wanted to.

"Please," the creature whimpered, her head bowed before Serenity. "Please don't destroy me. I-I don't want to hurt you. I just," and the clone shuddered, struggling against the hypnotic coercion of Sailor Moon's augmented tendrils, "I just want to understand! Why?"

"Why what?" Serenity asked tenderly.

"Why does everyone hate me?" the clone wailed. "Why does everyone fear me and want me dead? What am I?" She looked up at Serenity. "The Creator said I came from - - you."

"Yes," Serenity responded, kneeling before the clone so they were eye to eye. "You were grown from some of my cells - - if I understand it correctly. Parts of you have been changed, but most of you is a copy - - of me."

"But," the clone struggled, "you are loved and I am feared. Why? Am I not you?"

"It's because you've done wrong," Serenity told her.

"What is 'wrong'?" the clone asked.

"'Wrong' is hurting others by your actions," Serenity gently explained. "'Wrong' is taking what isn't yours. 'Wrong' is not respecting others."

"Taking what isn't mine. You speak of the Crystal within me," the clone responded. "Why is it wrong for me to have it? Am I not you?"

"No," Sailor Moon interjected. "You're a copy of her. If you were her, you'd know what you're doing is wrong. You'd know the Crystal belongs with her."

Sailor Moon glanced over her shoulder. By now Endymion had joined the scene. But he hung back, trusting his wife to be able to handle things her way. She knew as well that if anyone could get through to this misguided clone, it was her mother. But just the same, she wasn't going to let go of the Moon Tier.

"I know what having the Silver Crystal is like," Serenity smiled charitably at her clone. "So much power that you think you can do anything, and yet the realization that if you slip just once, people fear you." She tenderly stroked the side of the clone's face. "I forgive you for taking it. You were only doing what your creator told you to do. And I forgive you for wanting to keep it. You think if you just wish the right wish, everything will fall into place. But you don't know how to handle it. That's why you're feared now. That's why you're shunned and attacked. Because if you make the wrong wish, you can hurt a lot of people. And I don't think you want to do that. Please give it back to me - - for your sake as much as anyone's."

The lobby was lined with senshi now, as well as palace guards. There was an oppressive curtain of fear and anxiety in the room, everyone waiting for the clone to make the wrong move. Serenity seemed to sense it. She turned to her daughter.

"Usa, let her go," Serenity requested.

"Mom," Sailor Moon responded, warning in her tone.

"It'll be all right," Serenity assured her.

If it had been anyone else, she would have turned the request down. But Sailor Moon lowered the Moon Tier. The pink and violet tendrils faded away.

"I'm trusting you," Serenity smiled to the clone, "to do the right thing. To show everyone that you're not someone to be afraid of."

The clone sat there, staring at the floor. She didn't move. Serenity didn't move. No one in the room moved. Moments collected into a full minute. Then a warp opened in the clone's chest. The Imperium Silver Crystal calmly floated out and traversed the space between them. A similar warp opened in Serenity's chest and the Crystal returned to familiar space. Everyone relaxed.

"What becomes of me now?" the clone asked and to many it sounded like the plaintive question of a two year old child.

"Would you like to stay here?" Serenity asked.

"Your Majesty, I hardly think that advisable," Luna warned. "Need I remind you that this - - being - - is the only one aside from your daughter capable to manipulating the energies of the Silver Crystal? What is to keep her from one day taking it from you again?"

"Luna's right," Neptune warned. "So long as she lives, that clone is a threat to you, your family and to this country."

"Must I be destroyed?" the clone asked. She wouldn't look at anyone, instead fixing her stare at the floor. "I did as you asked. I-I wish to live - - though the thought of existing without the Crystal within me is not as appealing, now that I have experienced its power. Yet the thought of not existing at all - - it makes me afraid."

She slammed her flat palms against the marble floor in frustration.

"If only I could return to the beginning and change everything!" the clone wailed in anguish.

Serenity reached out and caressed the clone's head. The Queen was smiling, as if she had gained a sudden inspiration and knew the solution. Sailor Moon studied her mother, trying to figure out what the expression meant.

"Do you really wish that?" Serenity asked. The clone nodded, unwilling to face her. "Come. Look at me."

She gently brought the clone's eyes up to look at her. Then the Queen spread her arms, inviting the clone to hug her. The anxiety in the room ratcheted up. The clone was puzzled at first. Serenity leaned in and wrapped her arms around the woman. The clone was mystified at first, but responded in kind.

A brilliant flash of silver light engulfed the room, forcing everyone to look away. When the light dissipated, everyone turned back. There they found Queen Serenity cradling a weeks old infant in her arms. The child was soft and pink, with the bluest eyes anyone could remember a person having, save the Queen of course. The infant also had a single small tuft of blonde hair across the top of her head. As the assembled stared in amazement, Endymion knelt down next to his wife. She turned to him and smiled.

"Congratulations, Endymion," Serenity said. "You're a Daddy again."

"That's the clone?" Ceres gasped. "You turned her into a baby?"

"She was a baby in every sense except for her form," Serenity said, gently caressing the infant. "I just changed her physical form to be closer to her actual age. And I'm going to raise her as my new daughter."

"Are you sure about this, Serenity?" Venus asked her.

"It seemed like the only acceptable solution. She was a product of me, like Usa was - - like Kousagi was. And all she wanted was a second chance. Now she'll get that chance - - a chance to grow up properly and live her life right. And Endymion and I will raise her right." She glanced over at Sailor Moon and grinned. "After all, we must know what we're doing. Look how Usa turned out."

"'Bout time you admitted it," Sailor Moon smiled back.

"I bow to your wisdom, Your Majesty," Luna told her. "Truly an inspired choice."

As Endymion helped Serenity to her feet, her senshi crowded around her to look at the baby and to congratulate her. The Asteroids gravitated to Sailor Moon, who was admiring her parents from a few feet away.

"Wow, instant little sister!" Vesta remarked.

"Bet this is going to take some getting used to, huh?" Juno offered.

"I suppose. It still really hasn't hit me," Sailor Moon replied. Saturn looked at her friend and wondered about the girl's muted reaction. Was it wonder her friend felt? Was it shock? Saturn prayed it wasn't envy.

* * *

Cere found herself at the door to Hiroki Kuroda's studio. She didn't want to be there. She was still mad at him. And yet, there she was, hating herself for giving in to the longing she had to see him just one more time, even if it was just to tell him off. The door sensor scanned her. This was the first test. If the door didn't recognize her as an automatic entry, she'd know things were over between them. But the door hissed open. Part of Cere felt giddy from that implication, but she kept that part muted.

Inside, she found Hiroki sitting on a soft, his arms wrapped around his head in a visually uncomfortable manner, staring at a blank canvas. At the sound of the door hissing shut, he turned. Upon seeing her, he scrambled to his feet. However, the reed-thin artist stayed at the same distance from her. The pair stared at each other across the gulf between them.

"Where have you been?" he demanded, an edge of challenge in his voice.

"Senshi business," she responded disdainfully. "If you'd watch a news stream once in a while, you'd know that." Hiroki only waved dismissively. Cere knew of Hiroki's contempt for current events. She glanced around. "No naked women?"

"It would be a waste of money," Hiroki scowled and sat down again to stare at the blank canvas. "I haven't painted anything that wasn't utter garbage in days." He glanced back at her. "And it's YOUR fault!"

"MY FAULT?" gasped Cere angrily. "I come in here to find a naked woman in your studio . . .!"

"She was an object!" Hiroki waved dismissively again. "I had no interest in her! She was a subject to paint! If I'd been painting an apple, would you accuse me of lusting after the apple?" He glanced at her again. "Maybe you would have."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cere fumed.

"Possessiveness can be an ugly thing," Hiroki responded with an air of superiority.

"You forget, I know how many women you've been with, Hiroki Kuroda!" Cere argued. "It's not paranoia to assume the worst when I see you in the same room with a naked woman! So in the future, I suggest you stick to painting apples!"

"I will paint what I choose to paint!" Hiroki exclaimed, standing up again and facing her. "If I decide I want to paint a naked woman, I will paint a naked woman!"

"Then I'm going to be the model!" Cere maintained.

"NO!" Hiroki responded vehemently.

"Why not?"

Hiroki just stood there, jaw clenched.

"Why not?" Cere repeated. "What's wrong with me?"

Suddenly Hiroki was across the room. He had Cere around the waist and was staring into her eyes with an intensity that made her heart skip. It was like he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words. So he kissed her, hot and hard and long. Cere went from startled to resistant to overwhelmed in a matter of moments, and finally gave in, smothered on two fronts by his passion and her own. Finally their lips parted, but his mouth remained close to hers.

"Because you're mine," he whispered, an earnestness to his tone that Cere picked up amid the blood throbbing in her ears, "and I'm not going to share you, with the world or with anyone. They don't deserve to see you. Not like that."

"Now who's being possessive?" Cere whispered back, her hot breath mixing with his.

"It's different," Hiroki responded softly. Cere tried to argue, but couldn't muster the initiative through the racing of her pulse. "You don't have to be jealous. No other woman exists except you."

"So you tell me," Cere said and sought out Hiroki's mouth again. "I did miss you."

"I couldn't pain a stroke without you," he murmured when their lips parted again. "I said you were my muse. I didn't lie about that."

"I just," Cere began, stopped to kiss him, and resumed, "don't want to share you either."

"As if any woman could compare to you," Hiroki murmured into her mouth.

"I wish," Cere whispered in between kisses, "I had the strength to not believe you."

With that, the couple collapsed on the floor. The time for talk was past. They could talk later - - over breakfast.

* * *

PKE class found Hotaru once more trying to lift a two pound weight from the table and failing miserably. In frustration, the girl rested her chin on her right hand and just stared at the weight like she was trying to read its mind and unlock its secrets.

"Forgive me for inquiring," Valeri Brugarov said. Hotaru turned and found the youth leaning in toward her. "Still you are not succeeding at lifting the weight?" Hotaru didn't have to be a mind-reader to see that Valeri was still smitten with her, though to his credit he was trying to conceal it so as not to put her off.

"Sometimes I think I'm never going to do it," Hotaru sighed. "It seems like the only time I can do it is when I'm not trying to."

"That is good thing," Valeri offered. "It proves it can be done."

"It's not very useful if I can only do it when I don't want to."

"I wish I knew what to say. Premonitions and visions are something I have always been able to do. It has never required work or training." Valeri thought a moment. "Perhaps you try too hard. The harder you try, the more you block yourself."

"Sensei said that," Hotaru murmured. "And Palla-Palla." And Hotaru remembered something. "Brugarov-kun, what do you think of Palla-Palla?"

"She is very efficient at using her power," Valeri replied, perplexed. "And she is your teammate, so she must be a very skilled and accomplished warrior." He grinned to himself. "Such a thing is hard to imagine, though. She is so - - childlike."

Hotaru's hopes fell.

But Hotaru gave it another go. "She has some very nice qualities," Hotaru offered. "She's very innocent and cheerful. And she's very kind and, well, loyal. Trustworthy." Hotaru glanced away and frowned. She realized she was making Palla-Palla sound like a pet.

"Yes, well, believe me, I mean no disrespect," Valeri began. "She is your fighting comrade and you think very highly of her. That is good. But I find her - - intellectually inferior. That sounds terrible, I know. I know it probably isn't her fault. I just . . ."

"I'm sorry I brought it up," Hotaru said gently.

Valeri nodded and awkwardly backed away. Hotaru sighed and stared at the weight. Another failure.

"Thank you for trying, Miss Hotaru-Ma'am."

At first, Hotaru thought Palla-Palla had said it. But she looked around and didn't find the girl. Hotaru realized that the thought had been broadcast into her mind. And then she spotted Palla-Palla in the very corner of the room. Her senshi teammate turned and forlornly walked out the door.

"Maybe I should have just kept quiet," Hotaru sighed and went back to staring at the weight.

* * *

Usa peeked into the Royal Bedchambers, where her parents slept. She found her mother feeding her new - - sister - - while her father and Luna were engaged in a debate. As if sensing the presence of her other child, Serenity looked up and smiled to her daughter.

"Come in, Usa," Serenity said gently. "I was just feeding your new sister." The Queen grinned ruefully. "Guess that proves she's my clone."

"As if further proof were needed," Luna remarked. "She had the greatest power on the planet at her command. She could have destroyed everyone with just a thought, particularly under the duress of threat of imminent death. Yet she couldn't bring herself to do it." The cat began to mist up. "Perhaps there is such a thing as innate goodness."

"Or perhaps she was being influenced," Endymion suggested, "by the crystal."

"Pardon me for differing with you, Your Majesty," Luna countered, "but there is no history of the Imperium Silver Crystal influencing the behavior of its possessor. Quite the opposite, its responses are influenced by the possessor."

"I'll concede that," Endymion responded. "But Dr. Yoshida's process didn't copy memory patterns. She had to implant them. So the benevolent response came from somewhere. and I doubt it was from Dr. Yoshida. You can attribute it to 'innate goodness'. I'm wondering if the Silver Crystal has been surreptitiously altered by being in Serenity's possession all this time and now exerts a positive influence on anyone else it comes in contact with - - particularly a blank slate like the clone." He glanced at his wife and smiled. "She does have a talent for influencing toward the side of charity."

Serenity glanced up at him and gave Endymion a grin.

"A point to consider, Your Majesty," Luna conceded diplomatically, meaning she wasn't really conceding at all.

"Come up with a name for her yet, Mom?" Usa asked.

"Mamoko," Serenity responded proudly.

"'From the mother'," Luna nodded. "How very apt, Your Majesty. Quite poetic."

"Oh," Serenity frowned. "I guess it does mean that, doesn't it."

"That isn't why you picked the name?"

"I just feminized Endymion's old name," Serenity replied.

"I suppose that's reasonable as well," scowled the little black cat.

"It is a pretty name for her, Mom," Usa said.

"Sorry, Mamoko. All gone," Serenity cooed to the infant, pulling the bottle from her. Little Mamoko yawned and smacked her lips. "Would you like to hold her, Usa?"

"Uh," Usa responded with trepidation. But before the teen knew it, her mother was up and pushing the bundle into her arms. Usa cradled the baby as if she expected the bundle to explode in her face and looked down at her. The child looked back up at her, curiosity and wonder in those blue eyes that were so much like her mother's. Some of the teen's trepidation must have registered on her face.

"Usa?" Serenity asked. "You are OK with this, aren't you?"

"Well, it is kind of weird, Mom," the teen responded, still staring at the infant in her arms. "I mean, it's a great thing what you did. You didn't have to. I'm not sure I would have." She stared at the child for a moment. "But given how you've pretty much lived your life raising orphans and picking up strays and always having room in your heart for one more - - I guess it's the only alternative you could have thought of." She thought for a moment. "It's a little hard to digest. I mean, my Mom is also my little sister? But yeah, I'm OK with it. I'm just about out of the nest anyway. She can have my spot. It's cool."

"And she'll have an advantage you didn't have," Endymion added. "A big sister to model herself after."

"Hey," Usa said, snuggling the infant closer to her as she addressed her father with surprising animation, "don't put that kind of pressure on her! It's hard enough growing up without always being compared to someone!" She turned back to Mamoko and tenderly told her, "You just be your own person, Mamoko-Chan. I'll be there for you whenever you need me. But don't EVER feel the need to be anybody else but you."

Conclusion


End file.
